We're Not Broken, Just Cracked
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: *Humanized!* As foster kids, Pain is a four letter word that Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private know all too well. They're going to have to help each other through the hard times, enjoy the good times, and maybe become the family that some of them have never had.
1. Arriving at the Foster Home

**So, I've seen a bunch of humanized penguin fanfiction around, and I enjoy reading them, especially the ones where they're teenagers. Most of those ones though are about them going to high school, which is cool and all. But when I think of humanizing zoo animals into teenagers, the first thing that comes to mind is that they're foster kids, so I'm writing about it.**

Young Private hugged his backpack closer to his chest in an attempt to calm his nerves. He felt incredibly homesick and wanted nothing more than to go back home to England and continue living with his Uncle Nigel. He wanted life to go back to normal, but it couldn't, and he understood that, he just didn't like it.

Private's parent's had died when he was just a kid, so his Uncle Nigel had to raise him in their place. To be able to raise him, Nigel had needed to take a break from the top secret spy work that he did. He hadn't gone on any missions in years, but instead spent his time telling Private about all of his adventures.

Nigel worked for a spy agency called C.E.N.T.R.A.L, he was one of their best agents. Recently one of their biggest enemies had been located in America, and they wanted Nigel to be part of the team to find him. The mission would probably take a while, as the man they were searching for had evaded capture many times before. It would be too dangerous for Nigel to take Private with him during the mission, so he had to find some other place for the boy to stay.

"Private, are you doin' alright there lad?" Uncle Nigel asked the ten year old boy, who had barely said a word the whole trip to America. They were now currently just waiting for the social worker to come get Private, and Nigel could tell that the boy was terrified. Private faked a smile.

"I'll be fine, Uncle Nigel." Private said. His uncle though was no fool, he could tell that the boy was not happy with the situation.

"Private, if you're really not ready for this we can arrange something else." Uncle Nigel began. Private interrupted him.

"No, it's fine, really." Private assured him, though he still felt unsure about the whole situation. He had lived with his Uncle Nigel practically his whole life. It would take some time to get used to not living with him. It would also take some getting used to living in America, which seemed like such a strange country to Private. And he still wasn't so sure about his new living arrangements.

His uncle was able to find somewhere for Private to stay for an undetermined amount of time, but that somewhere was in a foster home. A foster home! He wasn't supposed to live in a foster home, those were for orphans and kids who didn't have people to take care of them. True, Private was an orphan, but he most certainly already had a home.

Besides, foster kids had a tendency of getting adopted, especially the young cute ones, which was precisely what Private was. He didn't want to get adopted though. And even if he wasn't, he might be stuck living in one of those terrible foster homes that he always heard about, and he really didn't want that. His Uncle Nigel had assured him many times that neither of those would happen, but still Private's doubts lingered.

Nigel could tell that Private was still feeling nervous about this whole thing, and decided to cheer up the boy.

"I'm sure you have nothing to worry about my boy. Everything will go swimmingly." Uncle Nigel said cheerfully.

"But suppose I don't get along with any of the other kids?" Private asked timidly. This was another concern of his, that he wouldn't make any friends. He had been homeschooled while living with his Uncle Nigel, and they lived in a fairly solitary place, so Private rarely had any interaction with other children. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to make friends. His uncle apparently thought otherwise, as he laughed at the suggestion.

"You not get along with the other children?" Uncle Nigel laughed. "Private, you are the friendliest child I've ever met. You will be living in a house full of other children, I'm sure you'll get along with at least one of them."

Private smiled. When his uncle put it like that, he didn't feel as worried as he had a second before. The boy's smile and peaceful feeling fled quickly when a man who must have been the social worker came through the door, and the man was _huge!_ Private didn't think he had ever seen anyone so tall and muscular. The man was bald, but did have facial hair. He also wore sunglasses. All in all, he looked just like one of the bad guys in his uncle's stories. The man came up to Uncle Nigel and they shook hands.

"Good day, you must be the social worker." Uncle Nigel said cheerfully.

"Call me Officer X." The man said. He leered down at Private, who shrank under his gaze. "This must be Percival." Private winced at the name. He was very rarely called by his actual name, that it always came as a shock to him when he heard it. And the fact that this man, who was practically a stranger, a very scary looking stranger, knew his name didn't sit well with Private.

"Yes, now Private, if you should need anything, know that you can call anytime." Uncle Nigel said to his nephew as he handed him a cellphone. Private took the phone and looked at his uncle with sad eyes.

"Do you have to go now?" Private asked quietly.

"I'm afraid so, lad." Uncle Nigel ruffled the boy's hair. Private sniffled and embraced his uncle tightly.

"I love you, Uncle Nigel." Private cried. Nigel held the boy tightly.

"I love you too, Private." He said quietly. He ended the embrace and left for his car. He waved at young Private one more time before he left. Private watched the car until it was out of sight, and would have stood there looking at the road for longer if it weren't for Officer X.

"Alright, enough with the sensitivities." Officer X said sharply. "It's time we go too." The man began walking toward his own car and Private had little choice but to follow. Officer X suddenly stopped so abruptly in his tracks that Private walked straight into him. He looked around the large man to try to see why he had stopped. From what he could tell, Officer X was just glaring furiously at something across the street, but there was nothing but people walking over there.

"Ricardo!" Officer X yelled loudly, startling Private, and he wasn't the only one. On the other side of the street one of the people, a teenager, looked alarmed. When the teenager saw Officer X he turned tail and ran in the opposite direction. Officer X said a few choice words under his breath, words of which Private pretended that he hadn't heard.

"Stay right there." Officer X told Private sternly before he dashed after the fleeing teenager. Private stood by the car, waiting and wondering what the heck was going on. Why had Officer X left him alone like this? And who was that kid who had run off?

It was a few minutes later that Private could see Officer X storming back to the car, and he was dragging the teenager, who was furiously putting up a fight, behind him. Both of them looked seething angry with the other.

"Get in the car!" Officer X barked at Private, who quickly complied to the orders. The man looked angry enough, and Private really didn't want to do anything to make him turn his anger toward him. Private scrambled into the back seat of the car. A moment later Officer X threw the teenager into the seat beside him and quickly closed and locked the doors before he could attempt to escape.

Officer X got into the front seat and began driving. He looked absolutely furious and began lecturing the teenager. Ricardo, Private figured that was the boy's name, wasn't listening to a word that was being said to him. He just glared out the window and grumbled under his breath.

Private scooted as far as he could away from the angry teenager. He felt a little guilty about it, but his first instinct was to stay away from Ricardo, who looked like a stereotypical bad-boy type. He was Hispanic with black hair which was styled into a type of mohawk. His eyes were blue and had a type of crazy, angry, wild look in them. He wore a leather jacket and ripped jeans. But most unsettling of all to Private was a terrible looking scar that ran across the left side of his face. All in all, he looked like the type of kid that Private would stay away from if he saw them on the street.

The entire car ride was tense and somewhat awkward for Private. He didn't say a word the whole time, because neither Officer X nor Ricardo looked in the mood for talking to him. So he instead looked out the window to watch the large city go by as they drove. Private hadn't been in many large cities, and New York City was a _really _large city. It amazed him just how tall all of the buildings were and how many people were walking around.

Finally, after what felt like forever, though Private knew it hadn't been that long at all, they stopped in front of a large and run down looking house. Officer X unlocked the doors, allowing Private and Ricardo to leave the vehicle. Officer X quickly grabbed Ricardo's arm to keep him from running off again, though it looking like running was the farthest thing from the teenagers mind, and went up to the door of the building. Private was close behind.

With his free hand Officer X knocked quite harshly on the door. The door was opened by a brown haired, hazel eyed teenage girl. She opened her mouth to greet them, but was quickly pushed to the side by Officer X who let himself in and made his way down the hall, dragging Ricardo behind him.

"Well, he's as pleasant as ever." The girl said coldly, clearly unhappy with Officer X. She shook her head and turned her attention to Private, who had begun to cling tightly to his backpack, his nerves getting the best of him again.

"Hey, you must be the new kid, right?" She asked. Private nodded timidly.

"Figures. Officer X was supposed to take you to Alice, but no, he has to try to get 'the runaway' in trouble first." The girl sighed in irritation. "Oh well, I guess I'll have to take you to see Alice myself." The girl smiled and held out her hand to Private, who took it. The girl led him to a room at the end of the hallway that Officer X had gone down.

The room was an office of sorts, and sitting behind a desk was a grumpy looking woman who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but there. Officer X was in the room too, along with Ricardo. Officer X was telling the woman about how Ricardo had run off again, and ignoring the teenagers grunts of protest. The brown haired girl cleared her throat to get their attention.

"Alice, this is the new kid that Officer X was supposed to bring over today." The girl said.

"I did bring him over." Officer X objected. The woman, Alice, ignored him and, looking somewhat relieved at having been interrupted, turned to the girl.

"New kid, huh?" Alice asked dully. "Yeah, I guess I remember something about that. Alright then, kid, what's your name?" Private opened his mouth to answer, but Officer X beat him to it.

"His name is Percival." Officer X supplied. Alice glared irritably at the man.

"I wasn't asking you." Alice said. "Look, if I'm going to have to knew these kids' names, I'm only gonna learn one name per kid. So it might as well be the name that they would actually answer to." Alice turned back to Private. "Now, what's your name?"

"Uh, Private." The boy answered nervously.

"Okay, so, Marlene, why don't you show Private around or something?" Alice suggested, though she sounded like she couldn't care less what they did. The teenage girl nodded her head.

"Now that you have that business done with, will you please do something about this one?" Officer X said angrily as he gestured to RIcardo.

"Do something about what? He hasn't done anything, have you?" She looked at Ricardo somewhat suspiciously. He smirked and shook his head. "There, see? Nothing." Alice said to Officer X, who looked furious.

"Nothing? I just caught that kid trying to run away..._again!_" Officer X shouted. Alice put a hand to the bridge of her nose.

"He wasn't running away, he was going for a walk." Alice said. "I knew exactly what he was doing. And why would he try to run away without taking anything with him? The kid can't survive one hour without eating something." Officer X looked ready to argue, and Alice noticed it.

"So I guess since he's not leaving anytime soon, you kids are free to go." Alice said. Officer X looked outraged.

"Him too?" He asked, pointing to Ricardo, who was already leaving the room, chuckling darkly. "Alice, when are you going to stop being so easy on that little delinquent?"

"They'll be at this for hours." Marlene said to Private. "Come on, let's go introduce you to the others."

**So, yup, there's the first chapter, and I should have more up soon. Now that I've gotten it started, it shouldn't be too long to continue, especially if I get any reviews _*hint, hint*. _**


	2. Sleeping Arrangements

**Oh my gosh, people, you guys rock. Because of the reviews, and favorites, and follows and everything like that, I'm updating so soon.**

**And because I didn't say it in the last chapter, I'll say it now. I don't own Penguins of Madagascar.**

Marlene led Private back down the hall and up some stairs which Private hadn't noticed before. The stairs brought them to another hallway on the 2nd floor which had doors on either side. They headed straight for an open door in the middle of the hallway. The door led to a bedroom where two older teenagers were talking about something. One of them was tall, and looked pretty smart. The other was shorter, not too much taller than Private was, but Private somehow knew that he was not someone to mess with.

"Hey guys, This is Private, the new kid." Marlene introduced him. "Private, this is Skipper and Kowalski. They practically run the place."

"But I thought that Alice did that." Private said. The tall teenager, Kowalski, chuckled at Private's words.

"Alice? Please. She does barely any of the work around here." Kowalski said. "She does what she has too, but no more."

"Basically the way things are is Alice makes sure we're alive, and we make sure they're actually fine and dandy and all that stuff." Skipper said. He firmly shook Private's hand.

"That's quite a nickname you got there, Private." Skipper said. "Do you have any relatives in the military?"

"Uh, well, my uncle was in the Navy." Private said. It was true. Before working for C.E.N.T.R.A.L., Private's Uncle Nigel had been part of the Royal Navy. Skipper grinned at this news.

"The Navy? Well how do you like that?" Skipper crossed his arms. "My father's in the Navy. Since I don't have any other family, I stay here while he's on duty."

Kowalski bent down and whispered to Private "Because of his father's influence, Skipper tries to run this place like it was a military base."

"I do not!" Skipper protested.

"Yeah, actually, you do." Marlene said. "Anyways, Private, if you need any help with anything at all, just ask one of us."

"Um, is there a place I can put my things?" Private asked. How had he only just noticed how heavy his backpack was getting? Skipper and Kowalski exchanged awkward and somewhat panicked glances.

Yeeaah, about that." Skipper began, but Marlene cut him off.

"Skipper! Have you guys seriously not found a place for Private to sleep yet? You've known about him coming for weeks." Marlene chided.

"Hey, it's more complicated than it looks." Skipper defended. Marlene raised and eyebrow in disbelief.

"Alright, let me spell it out for you." Skipper said impatiently. "We only have nine bedrooms in this house. Alice has her own room, obviously. Because you're the only girl here, you get your own room. There are already three people in Maurice, Julien, and Mort's room, and I don't think we can squeeze anyone else in there. Roy is basically intolerant of anybody except for Burt. And Leonard and Joey, from what we can tell, only get along with each other. Mason will be willing to have anybody as a roommate, but only one anybody at a time, which is currently Phil. Kowalski's sciencey antics take up so much space he can only have one roommate. And I'm not going to subject young Private to rooming with Bada and Bing."

"Yeah, I see your point now." Marlene agreed reluctantly. Private, who had been keeping track in his head, was a little confused.

"But you only named eight rooms. What about the last one?" Private asked.

"Rico? Please, nobody dares to share a room with Rico." Kowalski said.

"Why not?" Private asked innocently. Kowalski pointed to the door on the other side of the hallway, which had a large black **Keep Out! **sign on it. The sign had a skull and crossbones above the words to emphasis the point.

"I guess Rico doesn't like company." Private said uneasily.

"Actually, Alice is the one who put that sign up." Marlene said. "She was tired of the fits that Rico had when people bothered him."

"Fits?" Private asked. That did nothing to ease his worries.

"He's unstable." Kowalski said. "He freaks out easily, and has a love for violence. Nobody feels comfortable around him...Well, nobody except for Skipper."

"Even Officer X doesn't like him, as you saw earlier." Marlene said. As he'd seen earlier? But when had he seen Rico? Oh. Wait a second.

"You mean Ricardo?" Private asked. The others looked at him with warning eyes.

"Don't call Rico that. He hates that name!" Marlene said.

"Trust me, calling him Ricardo is the quickest way to get on the maniac's bad side." Kowalski said.

"Enough, Kowalski!" Skipper barked. "I don't want to hear any more of this bad-mouthing. Do you hear me?"

"Of course, sir." Kowalski said.

"Right, now that that's aside, let's go have a word with Rico." Skipper said cheerfully. He walked into the hallway and knocked on the door on the other side of the hall.

"Skipper, what are you doing? Kowalski hissed. Skipper ignored him and a minute later the door was opened by an irritated looking Rico. His look softened slightly when he saw Skipper.

"Wha' 'oo wan'?" Rico asked.

"Rico, starting now, me and you are going to be roommates." Skipper announced. Rico and Kowalski objected at once.

"Nuh-uh." Rico growled.

"Skipper, you can't be serious." Kowalski all but whined. Skipper looked fiercely from one to the other.

"Guys, Private needs a room, and this is the only option," Skipper said. "Unless, of course, you two would rather be the ones sharing a room."

"No!" Kowalski and Rico both shouted and glared at each other.

"So, are we going cooperate and go along with my idea?" Skipper asked the two of them. They reluctantly agreed. "Great. Kowalski, help Private get situated. Just set my stuff aside and I'll get it later." Kowalski nodded and went back into his room. Rico rolled his eyes and made to go into his own room again when Skipper grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Hey, I know you haven't had a roommate for a long time, but everything will be fine. Comprende?" Skipper said. Rico looked blankly at Skipper for a moment before scowling.

"Lo que sea_._" Rico said before he pulled out of Skipper's grasp and went into his room, slamming the door harshly behind him. Skipper massaged around his eyes. Life would definitely be more interesting now.

**Lo que sea - Whatever.**

**Yep, Rico just spoke Spanish. He'll actually be doing it fairly often, as it is his native language. I just hope I get the Spanish right. I'm not even sure if I got this Spanish right. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I will be back soon with another.**


	3. Morning Training

**So, this chapter is just Rico and Skipper enjoying their morning, though, of course, the theme and feel of the story is still here. **

Skipper woke up the next morning early, at around 5:30, or, as he liked to think of it, 0530 hours. Skipper always woke up at this time. It was his favorite time of day for many reasons, the main one being it was the only time he had that was personal where he didn't have to worry about any of the others, at all.

Skipper got out of bed and almost immediately stubbed his toe on something hard. Skipper cursed under his breath. He was usually pretty good at navigating in the dark. However, it was darker than he was used to because the curtains at the window were closed tight, so not even any moonlight could shine through. The room was pitch black. Skipper cautiously felt around the floor with his foot and could already tell that it was covered in junk. There was no way he would be able to make it all the way to the door without stepping on and tripping over a dozen things first. At least not without some kind of light source.

Skipper reached over to the window and opened the curtains, letting some of the light from inside in. Over on the other bed his roommate shied away from the light and groaned, but stayed asleep. The room was now bright enough for Skipper to find his way to the door without hurting himself. It was only after he had made it all the way to the other side of the room did Skipper realize that he wasn't wearing any shoes, and there was no way he was going to go anywhere unless he was wearing shoes, even if he was just going to go downstairs.

Unfortunately, Skipper had no idea where his shoes were in this mess, and the limited light source did little to help. Skipper sighed. If he wanted to have any luck finding his shoes, he would need to turn the light on. He would hate to disturb his still sleeping roommate, but Skipper reasoned that it would only be for a minute and shouldn't bother them that much. With this thought in mind, Skipper flipped the lights on.

Almost immediately after the room was filled entirely with light, there was a startled yell and Rico sat up in his bed, now wide awake. Skipper was very surprised to see Rico, he had nearly forgotten that Rico was his roommate now, not Kowalski. Which is why Skipper thought it would be fine if he turned the lights on, because Kowalski could sleep in the light. Rico on the other hand, Skipper knew couldn't sleep unless there was no light at all, unless he was absolutely exhausted, which he apparently wasn't.

"por qué...er, why 'oo 'wake, 'Kipper?" Rico asked groggily. He had been about to ask the question in Spanish, but caught himself last second. He was aware that he couldn't speak English very well, but at least people could understand him when he spoke English...well, they understood him most of the time.

"Oh, I'm always up this early." Skipper said. "There's no better time to get some training in than when everyone's asleep...well, almost everybody." Skipper looked slyly at Rico, who glared back at him. Rico didn't appreciate being woken up so early, especially not by the light being turned on. He doubted he'd be able to get back to sleep now...Wait, had Skipper said training?

"Wha' trai'in'? Rico asked.

"Just your basic average training." Skipper answered vaguely. "You can feel free to join me if you want, and we can see about throwing some sparing in there too."

Rico nodded eagerly at the suggestion. He liked that idea, he liked it a lot. Like Skipper, Rico enjoyed doing some type of training every day. Not only did it keep him fit and on his toes, but also gave him a way to let out his frustrations when he just felt like hitting something. While Rico trained every day though, he hadn't actually spared with anybody for nearly a year, not since the last foster home he was in. Sparing with the other kids was probably the only thing that Rico vaguely missed about that place.

Skipper and Rico made their way downstairs, quietly, so as to not wake anybody else up. Once on the main floor, they went to the gym, which was the largest room in the house. On one side were weights and punching bags, which were not to be touched by the younger children. One the other side there was a decent sized jungle gym dome for climbing on and a large tire swing. Yep, the room was huge. The middle of the room was empty except for some mats, which was where Rico and Skipper went.

Skipper taught Rico some drills that his father had taught him. The two of them spent a good while just going over these drills, and Skipper was impressed with Rico's progress. Skipper had shown these drills to Kowalski many times, and the intellect sometimes trained with him, but it was obvious that Kowalski really wasn't built for physical work of any kind. Rico on the other hand was the exact opposite, he was a natural. After a while Skipper stopped with the drilling and decided to move onto something a bit more challenging.

"Alright, Rico, how do you feel about sparing with me now?" Skipper asked cockily. He wanted to see just how good Rico was, though he doubted the Hispanic teen was as good as he was. Nobody was...alright, fine, few people were, very few people. Still, he could tell that Rico had some skill, and Skipper wanted to know just how much. Rico smirked and nodded. The second that Rico agreed, Skipper sent a quick punch his way, only for Rico to block it.

Skipper blinked in surprise, but narrowed his eyes a moment later. That had been an easy one, or Rico had just gotten lucky. Either way, it wasn't happening again, Skipper would be sure of it. He continued to strategically punch or kick Rico, but either time though Rico either dodged, blocked, and seemed unaffected by Skipper's hits. After a few minutes Skipper decided that enough was enough, he wasn't going to go easy on Rico any longer. He was doing this for real this time.

Rico noticed when Skipper began fighting for real and grinned. This was more like it, an actual challenge. Rico continued defending against Skipper's attacks, though it was harder than before. Rico was getting a little frustrated that he could do nothing other than defend. He was an offensive fighter, and hated fighting defensively. It made him feel weak, but all of Skipper's moves came one right after the other that it took all of his efforts just to defend himself.

Despite his frustrations about not being able to attack, Rico found that fighting against Skipper was a lot of fun. Not just because any fighting whatsoever was enjoyable for Rico, but also because Skipper's frustrations about not being able to land a hit on Rico was pretty hilarious. What Skipper didn't know though was that Rico knew his fighting style. Early on in their sparing Rico had noticed that Skipper fought in a very similar way as Rico's old favorite sparing partner. Seriously, their styles were so similar, it was a little creepy.

Finally, after sparing against each other for a while, they decided to call it a day. Both teens were hot, sweaty, and bruised, but also very pleased. Neither of them had won, since neither could get an edge over the other. True, Skipper had had Rico on the defensive the entire time, but considering how well he had blocked almost all of his attacks, it was clear that neither was much stronger than the other.

"Rico, I must say, that wasn't bad." Skipper said. Rico grunted in a way that said "You weren't so bad yourself."

"Seriously though, where did you learn to fight like that?" Skipper asked.

"Ol' fo'ter 'ome." Rico answered, a small frown on his face, though Skipper didn't notice it.

"You mean the foster home you never like to talk about? Did you guys do stuff like this a lot there?" Skipper asked. Rico nodded, confirming both questions. "Well, it seems like you enjoy doing this stuff."

"Uh-huh." Rico grinned again, though it disappeared quickly at Skipper's next question.

"If that's the case, then why did you run away? It sounds like it was a pretty cool-hey, where are you going?" Skipper changed his question last minute when Rico flinched, scowled and stormed out of the room. "Rico, wait, hold on! What did I say?" Skipper went after Rico, but was ignored. Instead of listening to him, Rico went out the front door, slamming it behind him.

Skipper frowned. Rico was always running off. Not running away, but just going out for some alone time, usually when he was angry because of too personal of questions. Skipper was used to Rico doing this, he just wasn't happy that he was the one to make Rico angry.

Skipper was the only one in the home that Rico even remotely trusted. The others all thought he was just some psychotic freak who couldn't speak, which wasn't true. Rico could speak just fine, if it was Spanish. He had a hard time speaking English properly, though he understood it just fine.

Basically, Skipper was the only one who understood Rico, or even bothered trying. And now, he may have just ruined things. He knew better than anybody else that Rico was very sensative about any mention of his old foster home. Nobody knew why he had run away, and everybody knew better than to ask. Well, apparently everybody except Skipper.

Skipper sighed and decided to forget about it for now. He had no idea where Rico went whenever he ran off, and he couldn't go running after him and leave everybody else here alone. Especially since it was still fairly early in the morning, most everybody would be waking up soon,, and Alice just wasn't a morning person, so she would be doing little to take care of the kids while he was gone.

No, leaving wasn't an option. Instead, he would stay and wait until Rico returned in a few hours. He would talk with him then, and hopefully make things right. Besides, by then Rico would be a million times calmer, as he always was when he came back. So, Skipper put Rico out of his mind and headed for the kitchen.

**Yeah, this chapter was fun to write, though it took me forever to figure out how to start it. But, I think I finally figured it out, and am satisfied with it. I'll have the next chapter up soon, and I hope to see you then.**


	4. Everybody has Issues

**Now we learn a little more about the other kids and their situations. Just a bit though.**

Skipper went into the kitchen where he would drink his daily cup of black coffee while he waited for the others to wake up. Or at least, that was the plan, which was quickly pushed aside when he saw that almost all of the other kids were in the kitchen already, eating breakfast and talking. Skipper sighed under his breath. Looks like his morning of peace wouldn't be happening at all. Oh well, it had been good while it lasted...for that one minute before he had woken Rico!

Skipper made his cup of coffee, even if he wouldn't be able to drink it in peace, and joined Marlene, Private, and Kowalski at the table. The three of them were already talking about something or another when Skipper joined them.

"Good morning, Skippah." Private greeted him cheerfully. Skipper grunted in response. He wasn't in a very good mood this morning, though he supposed it was his own fault.

"Care to share why you're so late this morning?" Marlene asked. Late? Was it really that much later than usual? Skipper glanced over at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 8:30. More than an hour later than he usually was. Wow. He had spent nearly three hours training with Rico. It hadn't felt like that long at all.

"Well, I guess it's safe to assume that training with Rico went well, for the most part." Kowalski said.

"Yes, it did, actually." Skipper said.

"Yeah, uh, if it went so well, then why did Rico slam the door so loudly that the whole neighborhood probably knows he ran off?" Marlene asked. Skipper's face went red with embarrassment.

"I may have overstepped my boundaries a bit." He admitted reluctantly. Kowalski rolled his eyes.

"That kid has nothing but boundaries." Kowalski muttered. "How are we supposed to know when we've gone too far when he won't tell us about his issues?"

"Well, everybody has issues that others don't understand." Private pointed out shyly. Skipper looked at Private appreciatively.

"Young Private makes good point." Skipper patted Private on the back, a little harder than he intended. "We all have issues, Kowalski. I mean, that's why we're all here, isn't it?" Private was confused at this.

"What do you mean by that?" Private asked.

"What I mean is that this foster home is different, meaning it's specifically for kids who have little to no chance of being adopted." Skipper said matter-of-factly.

"What? Why?" Private asked.

"It depends on the person." Skipper said. "For example, I'm not in the foster system to get adopted or find a new home, because I already have one, with my father. I'm just here while he's gone because of his work in the Navy."

Skipper pointed out three kids. The tallest of them was wearing a crown of sorts and drinking a smoothie. He was clearly ignoring what his stubbier companion was trying to say to him. Their companion, who was younger than Private was, contented himself with clinging to, oddly enough, the taller one's feet.

"Julien, Maurice and Mort also have families and homes." Skipper said. "According to them, Julien is the prince of their island or something, and next in line to the throne."

"We looked into it, and their story checks out. Julien really is a prince." Kowalski muttered to Private.

"Anyways, apparently there's this other family who have been trying to steal the throne." Skipper said. "Julien's parent's were killed by this family, so, to keep him safe, Julien's aunt and uncle, Maurice and Mort's parents, put him in a foster home here in the states. His cousins tagged along to keep him company or something, or to let him boss them around."

"Burt and Roy aren't so bad, unless they get angry or agitated, in which case, they'll squash you." Skipper said. Private didn't doubt it. They both looked big and, well, big.

"Leonard is afraid of everything and everybody, except for Joey. It's hard enough to find a foster family who would be willing to deal with his extensive fears, let alone a family who'd be willing to adopt."

"Then we have Mason and Phil, who, like you, are from England." Kowalski took over. "They would have both been adopted by now if it weren't for the fact that Phil is mute and can only communicate using American Sign Language. Sadly, there are limited people who understand sign language, and even less who can and are looking to adopt. And Mason absolutely refuses to be adopted without his brother."

"Then we have Bada, Bing, Joey, and Rico," Skipper continued, "All of them have been sent to Juvie at least once, and nobody wants to take in a juvenile delinquent who would beat them up without a second thought."

"What about you?" Private asked Marlene and Kowalski.

"Well, I've just been in the foster system my entire life." Marlene said simply.

"She's so used to the system that anytime she stays with somebody who's considering adopting her, she completely wigs out and goes psychotic on them." Skipper said. "Trust me, it's not a pretty sight when she goes wild like that."

"And I'm afraid my superior intellect intimidates adults." Kowalski grumbled. He was clearly not happy about it.

"Yeah, they don't want a kid who's smarter than they are." Skipper said. "See, Private, like you said, we all have our issues, and for some of the others, those issues keep them from getting a home. That's why I helped Alice organize this place specifically for people like that. So that we can give them a normal home, even if they don't get adopted."

"But, no matter how much work you do to make this place like a normal home, it's still not the same, and you won't ever be able to change that, Skipper." Kowalski said darkly. He excused himself and left the room, no doubt going to his bedroom to work on some sciencey gizmo or other.

"Ugh, now two people are mad at me." Skipper said, nearly whining. Today just wasn't his day, was it? How come he was always saying the wrong thing? "I'll see you two later." He said moodily to Marlene and Private before he went to his own room to sulk for a bit before he got around to getting some work done.

"Well, that was interesting." Marlene commented. Private merely nodded in agreement. "Alright, so, do you have anything you want to do? I mean, we have the gym, and the reading room, and the tv room-"

"Oh, I wouldn't mind watching the tele." Private said. Marlene smiled at him.

"The tv it is, come on." She led him down the hall and into the tv room. Private was disappointed to see that Bing and Roy were already watching something. That disappointment went away quickly though to be replaced by excitement when he saw just what they were watching.

"The Lunacorns? I love this show!" Private exclaimed. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Eh, go ahead, the more the merrier." Bing said. Private squealed and sat in front of the television to watch the show filled with happy and brightly colored unicorns. He was glad that he had something of familiarity to turn to while he was here. More than that, he was overjoyed to find out that Roy and Bing liked the show too. It was always nice to meet some fellow fans.

As Private watched the show, he couldn't help but think that maybe Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski would all benefit from watching the show. All three of them seemed like they needed some magic and imagination in their lives. It might get them to relax a bit. However, Private knew that none of them would give the show a try. Oh well, in that case, what Private would do instead is he would share his Lunacorn wisdom with them. Then they wouldn't need to watch the show to learn its valuable lessons.

Now that that was decided, Private put the thought from his mind, at least for a bit. It was a little difficult to watch the show and think up plans at the same time. And right now was show watching time. This was a good episode, and he didn't want to miss a second of it.

**You know what, I think that even less happened in that chapter than the others. But hey, I just had to get that stuff out there. Now that it is though, we can continue on.**

**Alright, I think I should just get everybody's ages out of the way, you know, for future reference.**

**7-Mort.**

**9-Private.**

**12-Leonard.**

**15-Mason, Phil, and Marlene.**

**16-Rico, Joey, and Julien.**

**17-Kowalski, Maurice, Bada, Bing, Roy and Burt.**

**18-Skipper.**


	5. The Boy's in their Rooms

Skipper had only been planning on being in his room for a few minutes to calm down, but found himself in there for much longer. He wasn't sulking the entire time either. He was in there for so long trying to straighten the room out. Skipper was a stickler for cleanliness and order, especially in his room. Clearly, Rico wasn't the same way.

Skipper took everything from the floor, which was a lot of stuff, and, depending on what it was, put it in a drawer, the closer, or on the dresser. And, in the cases where he had no idea where it went, he just put it on Rico's bed. Skipper didn't throw anything away because, he was surprised to see, he didn't have to. There was absolutely no trash in there like there normally was in a messy room. No, the only things that Skipper had to pick up were all of Rico's belongings.

And yes, he meant _all _of them. Rico, like the rest of the kids, didn't have too many personal belongings. Yet, his floor had been littered with all of it. It befuddled Skipper. It was almost beginning to look to him as if Rico had messed up the room on purpose. But why would he have done that?

_***Crash*.**_ The sound of breaking glass from across the hallway caught Skipper's attention. Well, that was never a good sign. Skipper immediately stopped what he was doing to investigate the source of the sound, though he had a pretty good guess on what it was.

Skipper's assumption proved correct when he cautiously entered his old room and found the remnants of a smashed vial on the floor in near the wall. There were also some books and, oddly, teeth products, that also seemed to have been thrown in a rage. And the person who had been in a rage was none other than Kowalski, who was slouching over his desk, pulling at his hair.

Skipper sighed. "You know, I thought you said that doing your whole sciency stuff relaxed you."

"It was supposed to." Kowalski grumbled.

"Alright, what was it this time?" Skipper crossed his arms. He really couldn't wait to hear what potentially disastrous idea Kowalski had come up with this time.

"Well, I was _trying_ to concoct a type of formula to make caring for teeth much simpler." Kowalski said. "It would work as toothpaste, but be more efficient, and would heal cavities over time." Kowalski said.

Skipper raised an eyebrow. Alright, so that plan didn't sound so bad. A little strange, but Skipper knew where Kowalski was coming from with it. "So, it doesn't look like your formula has exploded, so I'm having a hard time seeing what the problem is."

Kowalski groaned and knocked his head against the desk. "The problem is that I'm not a dentist," He said the word with such hatred, and Skipper knew why. Kowalski was terrified of going to the dentist, even if just for a harmless tooth cleaning. So it was no wonder he was trying to make something that would make it so he wouldn't have to go to the dentist as often.

"Yeah, so?" Skipper didn't understand what being a dentist had to do with making this so called formula.

"Off the top of my head, I don't know the technicalities of anything related to tooth care, so I attempted to do some research. But my stupid brain won't cooperate and is making it impossible!" Kowalski cried out in despair.

Oh, now things made sense to Skipper. This wasn't about the toothpaste formula at all, this was something else entirely.

"Now hang on just a minute, there is nothing wrong with your brain, or with you." Skipper said. "You're just dyslexic, that's it."

"Yes, so you've said." Kowalski muttered under his breath, though Skipper heard him loud and clear.

"And I'm going to keep saying it until it gets through to you." Skipper said simply. "So you have some problems, big deal, you'll still become a scientist one day, you know, once everything you make stops blowing up on you."

"What kind of scientist would I be if I can't read?" Kowalski asked distressfully. That's what all this boiled down too. Kowalski, as ingenious and brilliant as he was, couldn't read for the life of him. Any time he tried the words and spaces would look smashed together, or spaced differently so they didn't even look like words at all. It took all of Kowalski's brain power to try to decipher the words that he couldn't comprehend the meaning of what he was reading, and then the purpose was just lost.

"The same kind you'd be if you could read, a great one." Skipper answered. Kowalski was still frowning, though Skipper could see that he had his attention. No matter how discouraged Kowalski became, there was always one surefire way of cheering him up, by stroking his ego.

"You've made some decent inventions, all of them so complicated that I still don't understand what any of them were supposed to do or how they worked." Skipper said. "Granted, they all blew up in your face. But somehow I don't think being able to read will improve that."

"I suppose that's true." Kowalski admitted.

"Knowing how to read does not make a genius." Skipper said. "I mean, just look at Julien. He can read, yet he couldn't be any more of a moron if he tried."

"But I can't make the formula if I don't understand Odontology, **(A/N. At least I think that's what the study of teeth is called.)**" Kowalski said.

"So don't make the stupid formula right now." Skipper suggested. "Stick to the stuff you know, that's my advice."

Kowalski thought about it and decided that Skipper had a point. Not that he was going to give up on his formula, no, he was still determined to make that. But perhaps just not now. He supposed if he was desperate there were other ways he could get the information he needed. Until then, he could just do as Skipper said and work on another invention idea of his.

"Yeah, alright." Kowalski agreed.

"Great, now that we have that sorted out, let's make something else clear." Skipper said. "Now you know I approve of violently throwing things in a fit of rage, I actually think it's healthy. But let's keep the smashing glass vials to a minimum. Remember, you're sharing a room with a kid now."

"Of course sir." Kowalski agreed, his face flushed with embarrassment. He wasn't usually one to lose his temper like that, but he had just been so frustrated with himself that he completely lost it.

"Great, so I'll just leave you to your science mumbo-jumbo then." Skipper said. He left the room and went back to his own. He had planned to finish up with the cleaning, but froze when he saw Rico already in there, trashing the room all over again. When Rico saw Skipper he chuckled nervously and attempted to hide the magazine's, he had been in the process of throwing on the floor, behind his back.

"Rico, what are you doing? I just cleaned this place." Skipper shouted. Rico flinched a bit and took a step back. Skipper had to force himself to calm down. Rico acted so tough all the time, that Skipper often forgot just how sensitive he was. Skipper took a deep breath and continued in a softer tone. "What I meant was, we were actually able to see the floor earlier. Wasn't that a nice change?" Judging by Rico's scowl, no, he did not think it was a nice change.

"Well, we're going to have to come up with some kind of compromise or something." Skipper said. "Because you clearly don't like this whole cleanliness thing, but I won't stand for unorganization.'' The two of them thought for a minute, but couldn't come up with a solution.

"Why not just go for an organized chaotic approach?" Kowalski called from across the hall. Rico looked confused about the term and looked to Skipper for clarification.

"He means the room will still look like a mess, but everything still has a place where it belongs and is there." Skipper said. It wasn't the best explanation, but Rico seemed to understand.

"We coul' 'oo tha'." Rico said.

"Yes, I guess we could." Skipper said. He looked at his roommate. "Since most of this junk is yours, you can be the one to organize it. You can do it however you want, as long as there's at least some kind of order in it." Rico saluted and got to work, though he was frowning while he did so.

First he was woken up early by the stupid light, now he had to organize the room to please Skipper. If Rico had known that things would change like this, he never would have agreed to be roommates with Skipper. But Rico tried to be patient about it. Patience wasn't exactly his strong suit, but he knew that it was just the first day and they were both still adjusting.

In another day or two though, things would begin to go back to normal, and Rico would once again be left to his own devices. True, he didn't necessarily like being alone all the time. But Rico much prefered loneliness to...other things.

Rico shook his head. Why couldn't he stop thinking about that today? He had to stop before he worked himself up anymore than he already had. And there wasn't even a reason to be worked up at all. His life was just fine here. He just had to forget about what had happened before, because it was in the past, and his past couldn't hurt him anymore.

The irritating itch of Rico's scar reminded him painfully that he was just kidding himself. His past would never hold anything but pain for him. And no matter how hard he tried, he'd never be able to get over it. He didn't need a scar to know that.

**Alright people, now I just want to say one thing….I did not enjoy writing this chapter, like, at all. It just felt so messy, and rushed, and absolutely all over the place. But I felt that I had to write it anyway, so I did. I mean, there are some important character things in there, but still, I just didn't enjoy the chapter.**

**That's okay though, because the next chapter should be funner, mostly because in it we get more Rico. Yay! Though I will be having things for all of the penguins, I must admit that I am playing favorites a bit, so Rico get's the most attention. Kowalski too, just because I love how those two play off each other.**

**Alright, now I'm just rambling, I'll stop now.**


	6. Branching Out

**So, here I am, back for another chapter. I know it's been a bit since I updated, but I was trying to figure out some other stuff for some other fanfiction. But I'm back now, and ready for this next chapter, which hopefully should be good, since it was one of the first chapters that I actually planned out.**

Rico scowled at the monster truck magazine in his hands. He was trying to read the magazine and relax, but was finding the two nearly impossible to do. This was all Skipper's fault.

Rico and Skipper had been sharing a room for more than a week, and it was taking some adjusting to. Rico didn't mind so much Skipper waking up early every day, though it always scared the crap out of him whenever Skipper turned the lights on. Which was every stinking morning!

Rico still didn't appreciate how Skipper wanted their room to be kinda organized, but he was getting used to it. Honestly, it could be a lot worse. At least Skipper was giving him some freedom on the matter, unlike _some _people.

No, Rico was fine with those things. What he wasn't fine with was that he couldn't seem to get a single moment of privacy. Skipper actually spent a lot of time in the room, which Rico wouldn't have minded so much, if it weren't for the fact that because he felt responsible for everybody, Skipper insisted that the door remain open at all times. Which meant that all throughout the day there were kids who were always coming in to either whine about something (Julien), or to talk and hang out with Skipper (Kowalski and Marlene.)

Usually though, they only talked for a few minutes, and if it went on for longer then Skipper would take the conversation somewhere else, leaving Rico to his privacy. Today, however, for whatever reason, Skipper decided to have a full out discussion with Kowalski, and they weren't shutting up!

The two of them had been talking for more than an hour, and it didn't seem like they were letting up anytime soon. Finally Rico decided that he had had enough. He threw his magazine on the bed and stomped out of the room. If he was going to get some alone time, it wasn't going to happen in there. He'd just have to find somewhere else to pass the time.

Maybe he'd take the chance to play some video games. Yeah, he hadn't done that in a while. With his mind made up Rico went to the tv room where their game consoles were. Upon entering the room though he was disappointed to see that Marlene was already in there.

"Oh, hi Rico." Marlene said cheerfully. Rico grunted a response, turned right around, and left the room. Alright, so he couldn't play video games. Maybe he'll just go to the gym and beat the crap out of a punching bag. Yeah that sounded like fun.

Except that didn't work out either. Joey had taken over the gym, and even Rico wasn't crazy enough to get in his way. Phil and Mason were in the reading room, and Rico wasn't much in the mood for reading anyway. The other kids were all hanging around all over the house, so it was nearly impossible to find an empty room.

Rico was getting frustrated. He just wanted some alone time, was that really all that much to ask? He actually considered going for a walk, except he really didn't feel like it. Finally Rico decided to go back to the tv room. If he was lucky, maybe Marlene was finished in there.

"Hello Rico...again." Marlene said when he entered the room. He groaned when he saw her, but didn't leave again. Instead he sat on one of the chairs and glared. He wasn't glaring at anything specifically, he was just glaring. Marlene was a little confused. Not just because his behavior was kind of odd, but also because it was kind of a rare occurrence to see Rico during the day.

Marlene watched Rico for a moment before she shrugged, adjusted her grip on the fake guitar, and returned to her game. Usually she wasn't into video games, Rock Band though was a different story. Marlene loved Rock and Roll music, and this game gave her a chance to at least pretend to be any good at it. And actually, she rocked on guitar mode of the game.

Marlene played along to one or two more songs, though she kept glancing to the side to see Rico watching her intently. Or he was at least intently watching her play the game. After a few minutes Marlene got a crazy notion that Rico wanted to play. No, actually, it wasn't that crazy of a notion. Marlene didn't know much about Rico, but she did know that he loved Rock and Roll music even more than she did.

"Do you want to play?" Marlene asked at the end of the song she had been playing. Rico looked a little startled that she was talking to him, though Marlene didn't blame him for that. Usually all the kids, her included, ignored Rico.

Not that she meant to, of course. Rico just always seemed really secluded. Especially for those first few weeks he had been there. He had seemed so nervous and jumpy, but also angry and a little scary. It hadn't taken long for all the kids to decide it would be best to leave him alone.

Rico shrugged, unsure, though Marlene wasn't sure why. It was clear he wanted to play. Maybe he just didn't want to play with somebody else, or didn't feel comfortable with it.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun." Marlene insisted. She held out the fake instrument in her hands. "I'll let you play the guitar."

Rico thought for a minute before shaking his head. He stood up and Marlene thought for a second that he was going to leave again. But no, instead he went to the game's drum set and smirked.

"Oh, you prefer the drums?" Marlene asked.

"Uh-huh." Rico said roughly.

"Are you any good on them?" Marlene asked. Rico raised his eyebrows, as if that was a stupid question to ask. "Oh, so you think you're really good. Well, we'll have to see about that." Marlene browsed through the songs before picking her favorite one.

It turned out that Rico was really good on the drums, though it took him a few songs to actually get into the game. At first he seemed stiff and hesitant. By their fourth song though he had completely relaxed and was totally rocking out, striking at the drums as if they were real and not just a video game.

"Yeah, rock an' ro''!" Rico exclaimed excitedly as he twirled the drumsticks in the air. Marlene laughed at his enthusiasm. She had no idea how much fun he could be. The two played for a long time, though they talked quite a bit too. Well, Marlene did most of the talking, but Rico did say some things, which Marlene found she could actually understand, with difficulty, but still. The two hung out like this until Skipper poked his head into the room to tell them that dinner was ready.

"Already? Wow, time really does fly when you're rocking out, doesn't it, Rico?" Marlene said.

"Uh-huh." Rico agreed.

"Well, I guess we'd better go eat." Marlene said as she turned the game off. She began to head to the kitchen, but stopped when she noticed that Rico hadn't moved. Of course, he was probably thinking of not joining them for dinner and just getting food later when nobody was around. That was what he always did. He really was intent on being by himself all the time. After today though Marlene decided that Rico spent enough time by himself. She would make sure she joined the rest of them for dinner, even if she had to drag him.

"Come on, aren't you hungry?" Marlene asked him.

"Uh, nope." Rico said. Well that was a big lie. That boy was always hungry.

"Oh come on, you big scaredy cat, it's not like the others are going to eat you or anything." Marlene joked. Rico didn't seem very convinced, so Marlene said the one thing that she knew would grab his attention. "We're having fish."

Rico visibly perked up at this news. "Feesh?" He asked.

"Yep, fish." Marlene said somewhat smugly. Rico enjoyed eating, a lot, and his favorite food ever was fish. He would never pass up the chance to eat fish, even if it meant eating with everybody else.

Sure enough, Rico agreed, albeit reluctantly. He was actually pretty hungry, and fish sounded really good right now. It wasn't as if he was nervous or scared of eating with the others or anything, seriously, those kids were nothing. No, he just hated how they either ignored him or treated him like an idiot or some sort of freak.

But Marlene hadn't treated him like that all day, and before she hadn't even been much of an offender anyway. And she wanted her to join them, so Rico decided to humor her. And if the others didn't like him there, well, that was their problem, wasn't it?

It turned out that dinner wasn't so bad. At first everybody sent strange looks in Rico's direction, though that was because he rarely joined them for anything. Most of them got over it quickly though, which Rico was grateful for. Only three people seemed uncomfortable with him there the entire time, but Rico was fine with it. Leonard, Julien, and Kowalski were always like that around him.

Leonard's discomfort and nervousness was understandable and expected, he was like that around most everyone. Julien thought that Rico was insane, but actually, Rico was fine with that, considering he thought that Julien was equally as insane. Kowalski on the other hand, Rico had no idea what his problem was, though honestly he didn't really care.

Marlene was glad that she got Rico to join them. He seemed to be enjoying himself, though she wasn't sure if it was just because he really enjoyed fish, or if he was actually enjoying being in the company of the others. Marlene guessed it really didn't matter anyways, she was just glad that he was having a good time.

Maybe they could hang out again tomorrow. Though if they played Rock Band again, Marlene would have to ask Rico if he'd be fine with Phil joining them.

**Well? How was that? Honestly, I'm never sure how good any of my chapters, for any of my fanfictions at first. I apologize for any typos or misused words, especially in the later half of the chapter. My mind was kind of wandering when I wrote this. Of course, that means that some of it wasn't written as well as I would have liked, but it's well enough, I think.**


	7. Kowalski Cheers Up Private

**Alright, so I kinda threw this chapter together simply because I've either already written or have planned to write a chapter for Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private to kind of bond with each other, one on one. That is, I planned all of them, except for one for Private and Kowalski. So, here it is.**

Kowalski was sitting at his desk in his and Private's room, thinking. One of his latest inventions had malfunctioned earlier, and he was trying to come up with ways to improve the design. If he could at least decrease the chances of complete and total failure to 87.9 percent, it would be huge improvement. If only he could figure out how to achieve that.

"Um, Kowalski, what are you doing?" Private asked uncertainly. Kowalski jumped slightly, surprised. He hadn't even noticed his roommate enter the room, which was unusual. Kowalski usually was so observant. He must have been very deep in thought indeed to have missed Private's entering.

"Oh, I was just thinking." Kowalski said. He was bothered to see how distressed the boy looked. "Is something wrong?" Kowalski asked.

"Oh, I'm fine." Private said in an attempted nonchalant way. Kowalski wasn't fooled for a second though.

"Alright, what's up?" Kowalski asked in a more insistent tone. He gestured for Private to sit, and the boy did so on his bed.

"I just...I don't know." Private said. "I'm just feeling a little, confused, that's all."

"Confused about how you feel about being here?" Kowalski asked. Private nodded sheepishly.

"I mean, it's nice here and all, and it's quite an adventure to be here in America. And I know that it's not a permanent thing, that I'll go back to living with my Uncle eventually." Private began.

"...But?" Kowalski urged.

"But It's just too different here, and everything seems so strange." Private said.

"It'll take some time to adjust, but you'll get used to it." Kowalski said.

"But I don't want to get used to it!" Private cried out. "I want to return to England, and I want to live with my Uncle again. I want to go home." Kowalski was alarmed when he saw tears in the boy's eyes.

This was not Kowalski's area of expertise. He wasn't good at dealing with his own emotions, let alone somebody else's. But he had to at least try, for Private's sake. Kowalski sighed and sat on the bed next to the boy.

"You know, Private, it's okay to be homesick." Kowalski began uneasily.

"It-it is?" Private sniffed.

"Well, yeah. We've all experienced it." Kowalski assured him. "And as I said, you'll get used to living in America. The others did."

"The others?" Private asked.

"Yes, the others." Kowalski said. "Most of the kids are actually from another country. You already know that Phil and Mason are from England, and Julien, Maurice, and Mort are from some island. But there's also Joey, who lived in Australia. I'm pretty sure Rico told Skipper he was from Guatemala. And as for Skipper, I have a theory that his mother that he never talks about is foreign, possibly European."

"Really?" Private asked.

"Yes, I think so." Kowalski said thoughtfully. He didn't have any evidence to support his claims, so it was less of a theory and more of a hunch. But he was still pretty sure it was the truth. Kowalski was so caught up in his thoughts again that he hadn't noticed that Private was saying something to him. It was only when Private shook his shoulder did Kowalski's attention come back to their conversation.

"I'm sorry, what?" Kowalski asked, a little embarrassed that he had spaced out again.

"I said, does the feeling of homesickness go away?" Private asked earnestly.

Kowalski had to think for a minute before answering that question. He wanted to comfort the boy, but he also didn't want to lie to him. Finally Kowalski decided on the truth.

"It can." Kowalski said. "Some people get over it by either returning to their old home, or finding a new one."

"What about you?" Private asked curiously.

"My old home is in the past." Kowalski said sadly. "And how can I find a new home when nobody wants me?"

"Well, Skippah wants you here, doesn't he?" Private asked.

"Yes." Kowalski said hesitantly, unsure of where Private was going with this.

"So can't you have a new home here?" Private said.

"A family is what makes a house a home." Kowalski said. That was what Kowalski had come to realize in his years in the foster system. He'd been in multiples 'homes', but had only felt at home when he was a small child and his mother had still been alive. With her death, he had lost his family, and thus, his home.

"Yes, I suppose that's true." Private agreed, thinking about his Uncle. "But can't good friends become like a family?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so." Kowalski said, not sure if he believed it. He had heard about instances where that had happened, but hadn't actually been close enough friends with somebody for them to feel like family. Well, he was pretty close to Skipper. They were good friends. But it wasn't the same.

Wait a second, when had this become about him? He had just been trying to cheer Private up. He hadn't wanted to get his own feelings involved in this. Private could tell that Kowalski was beginning to feel uncomfortable, so he decided to change the subject.

"I guess I just miss my uncle, and doing stuff with him." Private said. That basically summed up how he was feeling.

"What kind of stuff did you do with your uncle?" Kowalski asked.

"I join him with his training sometimes." Private said.

"What kind of training does your Uncle do?" Kowalski asked.

"Um, kind of like what Skipper does every morning." Private said. That was as much as he could say without giving away that his uncle was actually a spy.

"I'm pretty sure Skipper would be more than happy to have you join him." Kowalski pointed out. Private looked excited at the suggestion.

"He would?" Private said eagerly. "Why, that would be fantastic. You should join us too."

"Uh, no, I don't think so." Kowalski said. "It's not really my thing." The prospect of waking up in the early hours of the morning just to be worked to the bone because of Skipper's hard drills was not a pleasant one.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Private begged Kowalski was going to deny him again, but found that he couldn't bring himself to say no to Private's pleading expression.

"Ugh, fine." Kowalski agreed reluctantly.

"Yay!" Private cheered. He hugged Kowalski, who stiffened in the embrace. Hugging was also something that he was not used to. It was obvious though that Private was very used to using hugging to express his feelings. So Kowalski sighed and decided that he would learn to grin and bear it.

**For such a spontaneous chapter, I liked it. The next chapter may also be a little rough, because I made a 360 change on where I wanted to go with it, and I decided on the change yesterday. Anyways, I'll update soon, until then, keep being amazing.**


	8. Unwanted Common Ground

**Okay, so uh, turns out, I just couldn't figure out how to write the chapter that I was planning to write, so I just decided to skip it. I would just continue trying to figure it out, but then I'd get frustrated with it, and then frustrated with the story in general, and may not feel like writing it at all. I can't exactly have that, as things are just going to get good now. So, instead of a chapter with stuff between Rico and Julien, we get stuff between Rico and Kowalski.**

**I have no idea why I felt I needed to explain that.**

It was nearing dinner time, and Skipper was gone. Kowalski had no idea where he was, all that Skipper had told him was that it was _classified information_ and that he would be gone all day, leaving Kowalski in charge. The taller boy was fine with this. He could handle the others for a day, he had done it before. After all, this wasn't the first time that Skipper had gone off somewhere.

Kowalski enjoyed the feeling of being in charge. Of course, it wasn't like he had to do anything. Most days, the kids all fended for themselves. All Kowalski had to do was keep his door and his ears open, just in case anybody needed help. It was a pretty calm day though. Nobody had come around, wondering where Skipper was. There were no screams of kids trying to kill each other. It was basically just a relatively quiet day.

That is, it was until Marlene came running into his room, looking worried.

"Kowalski, we need your help downstairs. Now!" She said.

"What's going on?" Kowalski asked.

"Well, I'm not sure if you were aware of this or not, but Rico went out again today." Marlene said. Kowalski hadn't known this, but not that he was concerned about it. Rico always went out, and knew how to take care of himself.

"Well, no surprise, Officer X found him and has dragged him back here, and he's really furious this time. He's not letting Rico go, and it's really freaking him out." Marlene said quickly.

Kowalski blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Officer X is really mad, and Rico is really scared." Marlene summarized. Kowalski couldn't believe that. Officer X being angry was more than believable. But Rico being scared? Kowalski found that highly improbable. But then again, Marlene wouldn't just say that there was a problem, unless there really was one. So Kowalski decided that he may as well go downstairs to check things out.

When Kowalski got downstairs, things seemed normal for a second. There was Officer X, looking angry, holding onto Rico's arm, to keep him from running off. Nothing strange there. Then Kowalski noticed the expression on Rico's face. The boy didn't look annoyed or mischievous like he usually did when Officer X caught him. He actually looked worried and, admittedly, scared.

Once Kowalski had noticed that, he also realized that Officer X looked angrier than he usually did, which Kowalski hadn't thought possible. And the man's grip on Rico's arm looked pretty tight. Marlene was right. There was something wrong going on here, and Kowalski was planning on stopping it.

"Officer X, what do you think you're doing?" Kowalski asked hotly.

"I found this hooligan out in the streets. _Again!"_ Officer X seethed. "I'm trying to bring him to Alice, and then make her see sense. More extreme measures will be needed to get this boy to toe the line."

"Alice is busy." Kowalski said. She wasn't really, but he doubted that Alice would understand the situation. Kowalski wanted to deal with this on his own. "Skipper's gone too, so you'll have to talk to me about this. Now, just what kind of 'extreme measures' are we talking about here?"

Officer X was alarmed at Kowalski's anger, and didn't understand it. The teenager was usually so calm and collected. Why was he suddenly getting all worked up.

"Look, all I meant was that the kid needs discipline." Officer X said sternly. "He's a trouble-maker, he doesn't listen to authority, and that is not alright. Somebody needs to teach this kid a lesson."

Kowalski flinched at the all-too-familiar phrase. Rico gave a cry of alarm and tried to pull his arm away from Officer X's grasp. It was impossible though. The man's grip was like iron. Rico couldn't get away. In fact, the man's grip became tighter. Painfully so.

Rico cried out again, this time in pain, and that's when Kowalski decided that enough was enough. His eyes flashed angrily. Officer X was a social worker. It was supposed to be his job to keep children out of harm's way, to make sure they had a safe place to stay. Not to threaten or hurt them.

"Leave him alone!" Kowalski shouted, shocking everybody. Officer X was so shocked that his hold on Rico loosened enough for the teenager to snag his arm away and get behind Kowalski, away from Officer X.

"Officer X, it is not up to you discipline anybody." Kowalski said coldly.

"Maybe not. But if you guys won't deal with him, then we'll have to send him back to someone who can." Officer X said. He pointed at Rico. "If I see him out on his own one more time, I will send him back to the one foster home that had any success with him. Most places don't last a few weeks with him. This one though lasted for two years before he ran off. Maybe they'll have even better luck with him a second time around."

Kowalski could tell that Officer X was being completely serious. And judging by the horrified expression on Rico's face, he knew it too. Before Kowalski could say anything to calm him though, Rico turned tail and rushed upstairs, returning to his bedroom. Kowalski glared harshly at Officer X.

"I think you should leave now." Kowalski said coldly before he followed after Rico, not bothering to wait around to see if the man had actually left.

When Kowalski reached the top of the stairs though, he stopped, frozen. What was he thinking? He couldn't do this! It had been hard enough to talk to Private, and that had just been to help with homesickness. This was something much more serious, and personal.

No, he couldn't do this. He just couldn't. Kowalski instead decided to wait until Skipper got back and let him handle things. Rico was more comfortable with Skipper anyways. And then Kowalski wouldn't have to deal with emotions that he had worked so hard at concealing.

Except Kowalski remembered when he was younger and going through the most terrifying time of his life. And then, shortly after that, when he was first put into the foster system. Through both hard times Kowalski wished more than anything that he had somebody to talk to who actually understood what he was going through. But nobody did. He had had to deal with it on his own.

He couldn't let the same thing happen to Rico. As uncomfortable as it would be for Kowalski, he had to help.

Before he could get cold feet and change his mind, Kowalski went to the door of Rico's room. Slowly, so as to not startle Rico, Kowalski opened the door and went in. The room was dark, as Rico prefered it to be, yet Kowalski could make out the form of somebody cowering on one of the beds.

"Rico, are you alright?" Kowalski asked hesitantly. He got a growl in response, which he probably should have expected.

"Look, I just came up here to talk." Kowalski said. This time he was answered by having a pillow get thrown in his face, and it actually hurt quite a bit. Kowalski got the message.

"Alright, so you don't want to talk." Kowalski said. He sat down on Skipper's bed. "How about you just listen then? I'll do all the talking. If you don't like what I have to say, I'll leave." He didn't get any response, so Kowalski took that as a yes. He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for what he was going to say, and began.

"I'm going to tell you a story of a young boy named Michael James Jr, after his father. For the first seven or so years of his life, he lived happily with his parents. But then his mom got really sick and died." Kowalski's voice cracked during the last sentence, but he forced himself to continue.

"After she died, Michael's dad became angry, with everything, with him. No matter what Michael did, or how hard he tried, it just wasn't good enough, and he would get mad and shout at him. One day though, he went beyond that. Michael had accidentally broken his mother's favorite vase. His father was absolutely furious, and he...he hit him."

On the other side of the room, RIco gasped and shuddered. Kowalski was shocked to notice that his eyes were wet., but noticed that his hand was shaking terribly. His whole body was shaking.

This was a lot harder than Kowalski had thought it would be, and he wanted nothing more than to just stop now and forget about the whole thing. But he knew that he couldn't stop while he was ahead, or else things could just get worse, for both Rico and himself.

"After that first time, the abuse just got worse. It wasn't long before Michael was terrified of being at home. But he couldn't avoid his father forever, and whenever he couldn't, he got hurt. Some days were worse than others. One night things got so bad that the whole neighborhood probably heard the boy's screams."

"Di...di' some'un 'elp 'im?" Rico asked timidly. Kowalski smiled sadly. At least Rico was responding now.

"Yeah, someone called the police." Kowalski said. "His father was arrested for child abuse, and was thrown in jail. Michael was put into the foster system."

"Wha' 'appen' then?" Rico asked.

"Well, after everything that had happened, Michael tried to just start over. He knew he couldn't forget about it all, no matter how hard he wanted to, but he could move on from it." Kowalski said. "He started with changing his name. He didn't want anything to do with his father, not even his name. So Michael instead began being called by his mother's maiden name...Kowalski."

Rico gasped and looked at Kowalski. "'Oor Michae'?" He asked quietly.

"Yes, I was Michael." Kowalski admitted, looking at the ground.

"So, oor da'..." Rico trailed off.

"Yes, he did." Kowalski sighed. "So, I know how it feels to be hurt by somebody who's supposed to protect you. That's what happened in your old foster home, wasn't it? They hurt you, didn't they?"

"Uh-huh." Rico whispered. He trailed his fingers over the scar on his face, remembering when he had gotten it. At least he didn't have to worry about it anymore, unless, of course, Officer X was true to his word. If that was a case then...then...Rico whimpered and hugged his teddy bear tightly, trying to stop the tightening feeling in his chest, but it wasn't working. Rico began sobbing.

"Rico, what's wrong?" Kowalski asked, alarmed.

"D-don wanna go 'ack." Rico struggled to say.

"You won't have to. I won't let them send you back there." Kowalski said determinedly. Rico glared harshly at him.

"Why shoul' 'oo care?" Rico spat. "Oo don' e'en li'e me!"

"Hey, that's not true." Kowalski said defensively. "I've never not liked you, I just...I didn't know how to deal with you. Me and you are just so different, yet, at the same time, so much alike. I know that it's a lame excuse, but it's not like you were extending the bands of friendship or anything."

Rico chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Kowalski did have a point there.

"Ca' we be frien's now?" Rico asked nervously, as if afraid of the answer.

"I don't see any reason why not." Kowalski said. Rico beamed at him and Kowalski smiled back. Friends. Yeah, he could handle that.

**Well, how was that? Was it dramatic? It should have been, though I'm not sure how well I conveyed it. I feel like I just plowed right through this, not because I was trying to get it over with, but because that's just how it turned out.**


	9. Quarantine

**Alright, so I'm not entirely sure where this chapter will be going, so I'm just going to write and see how it turns out, okay? Yeah, okay.**

Skipper used to just train solo every morning, that was what he was used to. Yet he quickly adjusted to having Kowalski, Rico, and Private joining him. In fact, he came to enjoy having it be not just him, but the four of them. Or, sometimes, just the two of them.

"Come on, Private, that was an easier one." Skipper rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry, Skippah." Private gasped. "I just can't seem to concentrate today."

"So I've noticed." Skipper said dryly. Their actual morning training was over with, so Kowalski had already left to work on his science things with Rico. It still baffled Skipper that the two of them were pals. Seriously, a month ago the two couldn't stand each other, now they were best of friends.

Well, at least with the two of them getting along, Kowalski had someone to help him in his '_lab'_. Maybe with two sets of hands instead of just one, there would be less hazerdous explosives from defunctioning inventions. Then again, 'hazerdous' and 'explosives' might as well be Kowalski and Rico's middle names.

So, while those two were off beings nerds, Skipper had stayed behind with Private. The boy seemed off during their training, and Skipper thought that some one on one training would be beneficial. He thought that maybe Private was in a morning slump and would get more into it the more they worked at it. However, the opposite seemed to be true. The more they worked at it, the more sloppy Private got.

Skipper couldn't figure it out. The kid was usually full of boundless energy, even early in the morning. But today, there was something off about him. He looked completely exhausted, and, according to Kowalski, he had been coughing all night long...wait a second.

"Private, you're not sick, are you?" Skipper asked, dreading the answer, even though he already knew what it was.

"What? No. I'm not...why would you think…" Private tried to cover it, but knew that Skipper saw past it. Private sighed in defeat. "Yes, I think I may be a little sick."

Skipper groaned, very much annoyed. This was the last thing he needed. It was difficult enough to be in charge of a house full of more than a dozen kids, and that was without sickness. Sure, Private just had a simple cold or something, no big deal, but probably very contagious. One case of a cold, he could handle. A dozen, he couldn't. Which meant he had to do something to stop this sickness from spreading before everyone got it.

And he knew just how to seclude it.

"Skippah, what are you doing?" Private yelped when Skipper picked him up and began carrying him out of the gym and up the stairs.

"I'm taking you up to my room. You are going to be bedridden until you get better." Skipper said.

"But why your room?" Private asked. "Why not mine?"

"Because I don't want anybody else getting sick, so you need to rest in a room by yourself, and Kowalski's in the middle of his science work. There's no way we'd be able to get him to stop working on it for as long as it takes you to get better." Skipper explained. "So you're sleeping in my room."

"What about you and Rico?" Private asked.

"You just let us worry about that, and you just worry about yourself." Skipper said sternly. They had reached Skipper's room at this point, and were surprised to see Kowalski and Rico already in there.

"Why does Private need to worry about anything?" Kowalski asked. "And why are you holding him?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Skipper raised an eyebrow questioningly, for Kowalski was supporting Rico, who seemed really dazed and out of it.

"Yes, well, we kind of had a little incident." Kowalski said nervously. Skipper rolled his eyes. Wasn't that the whole point of Kowalski having someone help him? To keep these 'little incidents' from happening?

"Well, whatever happened, you'll have to take care of it somewhere else. This is a quarantined zone. Private's sick." Skipper said.

"I'm not that sick." Private argued, but he was ignored.

"Rico's not feeling well either and he needs to rest too." Kowalski countered.

"Explain." Skipper commanded.

"Well, it turns out that my invention that we were working on had some dangerous fumes. We got it under control." Kowalski reassured them, as Skipper had glared at him dangerously, "But not before Rico got affected by it."

"Affected how?" Skipper asked. He needed to know what exactly he was dealing with.

"Nothing too serious, Rico basically has the symptoms of a fever." Kowalski explained. "It should be gone within twenty four hours though."

"But for now, he's sick too." Skipper stated.

"Yeah, you could say that." Kowalski agreed.

"Fine then. We'll just confine these two to this room until they're better." Skipper said.

"But what if he catches my cold?" Private pointed out.

"We'll deal with that when it happens." Skipper said as he, finally, put Private down.

"If it happens." Kowalski added.

"Exactly." Skipper said. "Now, you two are not to leave this room unless it's completely necessary, understood?" Private and Rico both nodded obediently. Skipper and Kowalski left the room soon after that, leaving the two of them alone together.

"So, uh, how are you feeling?" Private asked, trying to make some friendly conversation. Rico rolled his eyes and grunted. He laid down on his bed, his back towards Private, meaning he wasn't in the mood for talking. Private looked at Rico curiously for a minute before he too decided it was better to just lay down and rest.

'Besides,' Private thought tiredly as he snuggled into Skipper's bed. 'There will be time later for befriending Rico, when we're both feeling better.' Private closed his eyes soon found himself in a dreamless sleep. Rico, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

**Alright. See, that wasn't so hard, and I feel good about it, even if it is kinda short. The next chapter though, that should be fun, and I look forward to writing it.**

**I'll see you then.**


	10. A Nightmare and a Storm

**I know I updated only a few days ago, but for this story it feels a lot longer. Really, I don't think I've ever been so excited to write a story as I am for this one. It's just fun.**

**Anyways, I don't own Penguins of Madagascar...just thought I'd say that.**

_The room was dark, very dark. Not even a prick of light. Rico couldn't see anything, yet he knew exactly where he was. A room that he was very familiar with. Even though it was dark, he could tell that the room was fairly large. The floor felt hard and cold, like cement. The whole room in fact felt very cold, and wet. He was in a basement, and, judging by the silence, he was completely alone._

_Some people would be bothered being in a dark room, cold, wet, and alone. Rico, however, was not scared. Quite the opposite, in fact. He embraced these conditions, as they were preferable to the alternative._

_Somewhere in that room was a door, locked. Rico may not appreciate being locked in a basement, but nonetheless, he was grateful toward the locked door. For as long as that door remained steadily closed, not only couldn't he get out, but nobody else could get _in. _And as long as he was alone, he was safe._

_Rico was oh so aware of the fact that the locked door wouldn't be his protector for long. Sooner or later, probably much sooner than Rico would like, that door would be opened, engulfing him in light from outside the room. After hours of being in the dark, the light would burn his eyes, giving him a headache. And that would only be the first of his many pains._

_Because there, standing in the doorway, leering at Rico, would be _him. _The worst man Rico had ever met in his life. He was absolutely evil. Rico hated him. Hated him, and _feared him. _He was the one who had locked Rico in the basement in the first place, as punishment for disobeying him. But being locked in was only the beginning of his punishment. The rest of it was much more painful._

_Rico knew this, because this torturing cycle had become their routine almost from the moment Rico had been placed under that man's care. Rico didn't listen to him, didn't do as he was told, so he was always punished for it. And yet, he continued to disobey. He hated the pain, but more than that he hated the thought of letting that man mold him like he did the others. No, Rico wasn't going to become evil like the rest of them. No matter how much they broke him._

_Rico was broken from his thoughts when he thought he heard something. He strained to hear more clearly, and when he did, his blood felt like it froze. Footsteps. Heavy, purposeful, and tauntingly slow footsteps, coming down the stairs, toward the basement._

_Rico closed his eyes tightly and clutched at the empty chain he kept around his neck. He prayed to God that he was as crazy as people thought he was. That he was only imagining those footsteps. That there was no one coming down to get him. That the room would remain as dark as it ever was-_

***Crack***

Rico's eyes shot open at the bright flash of light that was gone as quickly as it had come. He was breathing deeply, practically gasping for breath. It took him a minute to gather his bearings. He wasn't in that cursed basement, he was safe in his room. He had only been dreaming. It was just a dream...except, it wasn't.

It was a nightmare.

A frighteningly realistic nightmare, that had once been his reality.

Another sudden flash of light lit up the room, scaring him terribly. Rico choked out a gasp and felt panic rise up inside his chest. He glanced around the room nervously, almost expecting someone to be in there. But no, he was completely alone, the room was dark again. He was safe. The anxious feeling he had diminished slightly, but didn't leave entirely. He was still scared. And, although he hated to admit it, he wanted company. _Friendly _company.

The perfect solution came to mind. Rico reached under his bed and groped around everything he kept down there until he found what he was looking for. Ms. Perky, his dolly. Yes, Rico had a doll, and he loved her dearly. He always felt better when he was holding her close. Not that he felt good now, per se, but certainly better. But only a bit.

Clutching Ms. Perky tightly, Rico laid down again. He didn't close his eyes, for fear of falling asleep again and having another nightmare. Instead, he laid wide awake on his bed and just listened. There was a constant hard pattering that made Rico nervous at first, until he realized that it was just rain. His nerves spiked on edge again when a bright flash lit up the sky.

Lightning.

Rico hated lightning, it always unnerved him. It wasn't just lightning either. All sudden appearances of bright light, even just someone turning on the light when he wasn't expecting it, made Rico tense. He always expected pain to come after the light. He knew it was stupid, but after two years of that being the case, he couldn't help himself.

Rico tensed when the room was lit up for an instant by another flash of lightning. He knew he'd never be able to relax as long as he could see when the lightning occurred, so he threw his covers over his head. There. Now he couldn't see the flashes. He could still hear the rain hit the window and the rumble of the thunder, but he couldn't see the lightning, so he was content.

Lying there in the dark, listening to the storm outside, Rico found himself dozing off to sleep. He tried not to, but he couldn't help it. He was tired, and his head hurt, and he needed sleep. He was almost asleep when his eyes snapped open and he sat up. He thought he heard something. Rico held his breath and strained to hear past the storm...there it was again!

There was no mistaking that sound. He was hearing footsteps. Someone was coming. But, that didn't make any sense. Nobody else was even awake. They were all asleep. But if that was true, then just what was he hearing? Had he fallen asleep and was dreaming again? Was he having another nightmare?

Rico kept his eyes glued to the door as he listened to the footsteps come closer. Then, the instant another flash of lightning struck, the door opened. Rico cried out in alarm and dove under his covers, clutching them tightly to himself. His breath began to come out in short, quick gasps. His heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest.

Rico was beginning to get a feeling of anxiety. Why wasn't anything happening. There was someone in the room with him, but they weren't doing anything, and he didn't know why. _Why weren't they doing anything?!_

"...Rico, are you okay?" The timid voice of a child asked. Rico froze for a moment before deciding that whoever was out there was just a kid, not someone dangerous. Cautiously, Rico crawled out from under his blankets to see a concerned Private standing by the door.

"Uh-huh. M'fine." Rico muttered sheepishly. Private knew that Rico wasn't being completely honest though. He was most certainly not fine. He seemed nervous and jumpy. He was upset about something.

"Did the storm wake you up?" Private asked.

"Yup." Rico answered. There was no need to mention the nightmare at all. Private didn't need to know about it, no one did.

"Me too. I always have a hard time sleeping during storms. The thunder's too loud." Private said, though he wasn't being completely honest either. What had actually woken him up was his stomach, which hadn't felt very happy at all. He had felt incredibly nauseous too. Now though, after a visit to the bathroom to throw up what little food he had eaten the day before, Private actually felt a lot better and not as sick.

"Don' like ligh'nin'." Rico said. "Too brigh'."

"Yeah, I guess the lightning is pretty scary." Private said.

At that moment a flash of lightning and a loud roll of thunder happened, simultaneously, making both of the boys cry out in alarm. Both grew more nervous because they knew that lightning and thunder happening at the same time meant that the storm was right on top of them, and that wasn't a very reassuring thought.

Private whimpered a tiny bit. He hated storms, they were too strong and scary. He had always been afraid of storms. He wanted nothing more than to just cower under the covers and hope that the storms blows over soon. Then, Private came up with an idea even better than that.

"Do you want to build a fort?" Private asked.

Rico did not understand the question at all. "Huh?"

"Make a fort made of our pillows and blankets." Private explained. "We can sleep in it. It'll be fun, and provide extra protection from the storm." Not that pillows and blankets would provide much protection, but it would feel like would. Honestly, what Private really wanted from building the fort was to have some closer company. He and Rico could kind of protect each other.

Rico mulled it over. Actually, it didn't sound like a bad idea. Actually, having someone else's reassuring presence while he tried to get more sleep may do some good, and possibly keep him from having any more nightmares. Not that he was going to admit it though. If questioned, he would deny everything and say it was Private's idea, which it was.

"Yeah, okay." Rico decided. Rico grabbed his pillows and threw them at Private, who stumbled at the impact and fell to the floor. After Rico helped Private to his feet, the two got to making their fort. It wasn't impressive, and didn't take long to make at all. In fact, someone might think that their 'fort' was just a pile of pillows and blankets that buried the two of them, which was exactly what their fort was. It didn't look nice, but it suited their needs for sleep and comfort just fine.

"Good night, Rico." Private yawned as he snuggled up against the closest thing to him, which happened to be Rico. The teenager stiffened at the touch, but soon relaxed to it. Actually, he found himself enjoying it. Yeah, he could get used to this.

"G'nigh'." Rico muttered. as he found himself dozing off. It wasn't long before they both were fast asleep once again.

**Yeah, I'm happy with this. The beginning though, that turned out even more dramatic than I was expecting. Seriously. So, how about we take a short break from this drama? The next two or three chapters will be fun, sweet, bonding stuff, and I look forward to writing them.**


	11. Penguins and A Church

**Hello, I'm back. I'm sorry about the longer wait, but I seriously just barely changed where I was going with this chapter. The basic idea is the same, but I did change the scenario a bit.**

**I don't own Penguins of Madagascar, just the story idea, and the spelling mistakes that I may have.**

Rico was having a bad day. There was no particular reason why, nothing bad had happened. He was just in a rotten mood. Everybody has their off days every once in a while and now Rico was having one of those days. Everything that anybody did or said put him on edge and frustrated him.

Finally, Rico had had enough. He just needed some space for a bit. He needed to get out. He knew he wasn't supposed to, that he'd be in huge trouble if Officer X caught him again. But that just meant that he'd have to be extra careful to not get caught.

So, with backpack in hand, Rico snuck to the front door. He'd only be gone for an hour or two, with any luck, he'd be back before anybody realized he was gone.

"And where do you think you're going?" A voice cut in just as Rico was about to leave. He hesitantly turned around to see Kowalski behind him, and his friend did not look amused.

"Uh, nowhere." Rico chuckled nervously.

"You weren't seriously thinking of going out by yourself, were you?" Rico's guilty expression said yes, that was exactly what he had been thinking. Kowalski grew frustrated. "After what Officer X said? I can't believe even you would be so stupid as to think that it would be a good idea to-" Kowalski trailed off when he saw the startled, almost scared, expression on Rico's face. Kowalski took a deep breath. Getting angry would do no good now.

"I'm sorry." Kowalski apologized. "I just don't want you to get in trouble, and I'm sure you don't want that either." Rico shook his head. "Well, if you don't want any trouble either, then why were you about to sneak out again when you know you're not allowed out by yourself anymore?"

"I go' somethin' I nee' 'oo do." Rico grumbled.

"Do you need to do it by yourself?" Kowalski asked. Rico thought for a second before shaking his head. "So the answer is simple, I'll just go with you. Alright?" Rico grinned and nodded. He didn't mind having someone go with him, he just needed to get out.

Kowalski didn't know where they were going, but he honestly didn't need to. This was Rico's time, Kowalski was just accompanying him. The two of them took a taxi to Central Park, which surprised Kowalski. Rico just didn't strike him as the type of guy who liked hanging around at a park.

Rico walked determinedly through the park, so he clearly had a destination in mind. They walked for a few minutes, Kowalski wondering the whole time what they were doing there. Finally, Rico stopped, and Kowalski could tell where they had been going to.

"The Central Park Zoo, interesting." Kowalski commented. "Do you always come here when you go out?"

"Uh-huh." Rico nodded. "I li'e the pen'uins."

"Penguins?" Kowalski was flabbergasted. Rico being into lions or bears made sense. But cute adorable penguins?

"Yeah, pen'uins." Rico repeated. "Wha' 'bou' 'oo?"

"Me? Well, I, um, like the...the dolphins." Kowalski muttered, his face going red. Dolphins had been the favorite animal of his old girlfriend, Doris. Now, they were Kowalski's favorite animal, simply because they reminded him of her. Yes, he was still crazy about her.

If Rico could tell that Kowalski was embarrassed, he didn't bring it up. He just led the way through the zoo to look at the animals. They spent most of their time watching the penguins, Rico like it most watching them swim around. Though they did also go see the dolphins, which Kowalski appreciated.

They left the zoo nearly an hour later, but remained in the park. Rico told Kowalski that there was something he wanted to do, alone, and that it would only take a few minutes. So Kowalski left him alone and went for a short walk around. During that walk he passed by someone selling snow cones.

It was rather hot outside, and Kowalski did have a sweet tooth, so he bought a couple of snow cones before heading back. When Kowalski returned to where he had left Rico, it was to find his friend sitting on the ground, writing something. A moment later he finished and put whatever he had been writing in an envelope.

"What's that?" Kowalski asked curiously as he came closer. He handed Rico one of the snow cones.

"A le''er for my mama." Rico answered.

"A letter for your mom?" Kowalski asked. "You're mom's still...around?"

"In Gua'emala." Rico said. "I ca' wri'e 'oo her, bu' no' see 'er."

"Why can't you see your mom?" Kowalski asked.

"They say she a unfi' paren'." Rico said. "'cause I ma'e the house go kaboom."

Kowalski bit his lip. That kind of sounded awful. Rico loved explosives, and for them to be the reason that he was in the foster system in the first place seemed cruelly ironic.

"Alrigh', le's go." Rico put the letter in his backpack, stood up, and stretched.

"Are we going back now?" Kowalski asked.

"Nope." Rico said. He began to walk off, and Kowalski followed him. They left Central Park and walked through the city. Once again, Kowalski was in the dark of their location, but, again, he was fine with it. Rico knew where he was going. Well, at least Kowalski thought that Rico knew where he was going. But after a half hour of walking, Kowalski was beginning to doubt it.

"Rico, do you know where we're going?" Kowalski asked.

"Yup." was all Rico said.

"...Well, where are we going?" Kowalski asked when Rico didn't elaborate. Suddenly, Rico stopped and Kowalski nearly walked into him.

"Here." Rico said as he gestured to the building in front of them. Kowalski, who hadn't been paying much attention to the building they had passed, looked and his jaw nearly dropped at what he saw. They were standing in front of an old church.

"Here?" Kowalski asked uncomfortably. He was a man of science, he didn't believe in the existence of a god and had never been inside a church before. He didn't know what to expect.

"Uh-huh. C'mon." Rico grabbed Kowalski's arm and dragged him inside before he could protest anymore. They went through the main hallway and came to a large room, where the church services were likely held each Sunday. The chapel. There were many benches for sitting at in the room. Rico took a seat in the back, and Kowalski joined him.

"Do you come here often?" Kowalski whispered. He may not be religious, but he was respectful, and there were other people there too. Kowalski knew that, with the way the room was designed, his voice would carry if he spoke in a normal tone. He didn't want to bother the other people there.

"Uh-huh." Rico nodded.

"...What do you do here?" Kowalski asked. He really had no idea what people did when they went to church. He also thought that people only went to church on sunday, but it wasn't sunday, yet there were people there, so that was wrong.

"Sit, think, an' pray." Rico answered. "'elps calm me down."

Kowalski supposed the room did have a peaceful atmosphere about it, though he believed it had something to do with the beautiful architecture and art that this church, as well as many others, had.

"So you come here to pray to this god of yours?" Kowalski asked, though he knew the answer before Rico nodded. "And does he...answer you?"

"Yeah, I thi'k he does." Rico said. "He cares 'bou' me." Kowalski furrowed his eyebrows. He wasn't serious, was he? Did Rico honestly think that there was really some all powerful god who cared about him?

"Rico, if god exists and does care about you, about all of us, then why does he let bad things happen?" Kowalski asked. "How could he let you be taken from you mom? And let my dad hurt me? Why would he allow you to be sent to that foster home that hurt you like that?"

Rico frowned and looked at the ground. Kowalski felt a little guilty. He hadn't meant to make Rico feel bad, he just wanted answers. He'd had people try to convert him before, but whenever he asked why god let bad things happen, they said it was either because he either didn't have enough faith, or he deserved it.

That was absurd. He had just been a kid. He was still a kid, and so was Rico, yet all these terrible things had happened to them. What could they have possibly done to deserve getting hurt the way they had? Nothing.

"...I don' know." Rico murmured after a minute. "I'm no' God." Rico lifted his head and looked Kowalski in the eye. "Bu' I do belie'e in 'im."

"But, why wouldn't god help you while you were in that foster home?" Kowalski asked. Two years is a long time to be living in pain and fear.

"He di' 'elp." Rico said simply with a small smile. "I escaped."

Kowalski shut his mouth at that point. There was still a lot he didn't understand about how someone could believe in a god, especially Rico. But Rico was a stubborn kid, and Kowalski could tell that his faith was deep. Kowalski wouldn't be able to change his view, and honestly, he didn't want to. His belief in god gave Rico strength somehow, and Kowalski could respect that. It just wasn't for him.

Kowalski stood up and showed himself out. Rico had come to this church to worship privately, not to be interrogated about his beliefs. Kowalski left the church to take a walk around the block. He wouldn't be gone long, just long enough to give Rico time to think and pray like he wanted to.

Rico noticed that Kowalski had left, but didn't try to stop him. He knew he'd be back later. While he was gone though, Rico prayed. He didn't pray for anything specifically, he just prayed for the sake of praying. While he did so, he felt calmer, less chaotic. He didn't feel anxious or destructive like he usually did. He just felt at peace.

After a while, Rico stopped. He didn't know how long he had been there, though it couldn't have been very long. It didn't matter though, his visit had still been beneficial. Out in the hallway Rico found Kowalski waiting for him.

"Hey." Kowalski greeted him in a tone that almost sounded like he was embarrassed. "So, that chain of yours, did it use to have something on it?" Kowalski asked. Rico blinked and looked down at the metal necklace chain he always wore around his neck.

"Yup." Rico said.

"Did it happen to be something like this?" Kowalski asked as he held out his hand. Rico gasped. Kowalski was holding a small celtic cross pendant that looked perfect for putting on a necklace.

"How'd 'oo know?" Rico asked.

"Well, I was just taking a walk down the street when I passed a vendor of sorts selling these pendants for a fair price. I know that many christians have cross necklaces, and I noticed that you sometimes clutch to that chain of yours like a lifeline when you're scared, so I just thought maybe you had a cross on it too. But, obviously, you don't have one anymore, so I thought you'd appreciate another, and…" Kowalski's rambling was cut off when Rico tackled him into a hug.

"Gracias." Rico muttered.

"No problem." Kowalski said awkwardly. "So, uh, we'd better be heading back soon, don't you think?"

"Uh-huh." Rico smiled and together the two of them began their journey back.

**Well, I like it, especially the ending. If only it hadn't been so difficult to write for some reason. But I pushed forward, and am happy with it. I hope you also liked it.**

**So, yeah, I don't know, I read in another Fanfic, I can't remember which one, where Rico was strongly religious. I really liked the idea, so I used it...I hope that whoever wrote the fic I'm talking about is okay with that.**

**It just makes sense to me, it just reinforces the fact that Rico and Kowalski are totally opposite. Not only in a brain vs brawn way, but in a science vs religion kind of way too. I think it works, and I hope that I wrote it in a way that it makes sense.**


	12. Tea Party

**So, I'm back with another fun chapter. This just came to me one night, and the idea was just too fun to resist.**

Private sat on the floor of the tv room and happily watched Lunacorns. Roy and Bing were watching too, though not with quite as much enthusiasm as Private had. But nobody could be more enthusiastic about Lunacorns than Private was. Sitting on the couch at the back of the room was Skipper, and he was only there because Private kept bugging him to watch an episode, to at least give the show a try.

So Skipper did, and found the stupid moon horse show even more stupid and sickeningly cheerful than he had originally thought. But still, Skipper continued to watch. Only because of how happy Private was with him being there. Besides, it wasn't as if he had anything better to do. Things had been fairly dull all day.

Just when Skipper thought his brain was going to melt if he watched the show for another second, a welcome distraction came. Out of the corner of his eye, Skipper noticed Marlene walking down the hall and heading for the front door.

"Hey, Marlene, you going somewhere?" Skipper called, startling Marlene a bit.

"Uh, yeah, I'm going out." Marlene said, as if it were obvious.

"By yourself?" Skipper raised an eyebrow. That girl had another thing coming if she thought he was just going to let her walk around the city alone. Sure, he let Rico do it all the time. But Rico was a boy who was used to the city and being out on the streets. Marlene was just a girl who barely left the house because it made her nervous. She shouldn't be out in the big city unless accompanied by someone.

"No, I'm not going alone, I'm meeting with a friend." Marlene said. Skipper's eyes widened. A friend? Marlene never went anywhere, she didn't have many friends outside of their foster family, so who was she possibly going with? Was it a guy friend? How long had she known this 'friend'?"

"Just who is this friend you're talking about?" Skipper asked suspiciously.

"No need to go into paranoid hyper drive, It's just Roger." Marlene said. Skipper breathed a sigh of relief. So Marlene wasn't hanging out with a total stranger. That was good.

Roger was an old friend, he had actually lived in their foster home for a bit. But now he was living alone in the heart of New York City. He still loved to hang out with them though.

"Roger taking you to see one of those shows of his?" Skipper asked? Roger was a huge fan of the performing arts, especially musicals. He went to see a show at least once a month and often took others with him. Who he took depended on what he was seeing.

"Yep, we're seeing a musical called Evita." Marlene said.

"Yeah, sounds boring. You guys have fun at your sissy show." Skipper waved her off.

"Just because it's a musical does not mean it's sissy." Marlene argued.

"Well, bursting into song and dancing around randomly aren't exactly manly." Skipper said.

"That depends on who you ask." Marlene crossed her arms. "Besides, Kowalski and Rico really enjoyed the shows that Rodger's taken them to go see. And even you've enjoyed a musical or two."

"...Whatever you say, Marlene." Skipper said, his face flushed furiously with embarrassment. Marlene smirked at him victoriously before leaving, which just frustrated him more. It was infuriating, but Skipper knew that she was right. Kowalski loved music, and the soundtracks to musicals were no exception. Rico had absolutely loved _Phantom of the Opera_ and _Sweeney Todd_ when Roger had taken him to see them. And Skipper himself, though he hated to admit it, had taken a liking to that one show about the three sailors who had shore leave in New York for a day.

Alright, so he and his boys had taken a liking for musicals. So what? People could enjoy musicals and still be manly...right? Oh who was he kidding? Skipper knew he should still be a man with dignity, despite what he enjoyed, but he wasn't. He felt ashamed, and confused, and...oh, forget it.

By this time, the episode of Lunacorns had ended, and Private was searching for something new to do. As usual, he felt happy and inspired by the Lunacorns, and felt like doing something that kept true to the spirit of the show. Suddenly, the perfect idea popped into his head.

"We should have a tea party!" Private exclaimed. Skipper, Roy, and Bing looked at him, bewildered.

"Eh, what're you talkin' 'bout?" Bing asked.

"Well, I just thought it may be fun to have a tea party." Private repeated, a little more timidly. "You know, the type of thing that the Lunacorns do all the time. With real tea, and snacks, and everything."

Bing and Roy looked at each other. At first, it sounded like a stupid idea, but after thinking about it for a minute, it actually didn't sound so bad. And it wasn't as if they had anything better to do. So, yeah, they'd be willing to play along. On one condition.

"Yeah, we'll join ya." Bing answer for the two of them. Private perked up.

"You will?" Private asked cheerfully. He had been beginning to doubt his suggestion.

"Sure, but only if you get some of the others to join in too." Roy said. They would look like a couple of fools if it was just the three of them having a tea party. If there were more people, they wouldn't feel as foolish.

"Yeah, count me out." Skipper said. If he thought that being vaguely interested in musicals was bad for his manly image, well, participating in a tea party was a lot worse. Let those kids have their fun, but he wasn't going to have anything to do with it.

At first, Private, Roy, and Bing thought it would be hard to convince the others to join them. Turns out, they were so wrong. Mason and Phil, who both loved tea, were more than happy to join them. Burt and Bada were hesitant at first, but after hearing that Private was planning on making snacks to go with the tea, including banana nut muffins, they too agreed.

So they had more than enough people to have a proper tea party now, but Private wasn't entirely satisfied. It would be great if he could get Rico, Kowalski, or Skipper to join them. Private had become rather close friends with the three of them, he actually thought of them as the older brothers that he'd never had.

But the three of them were very proud, and would all be very hesitant to join in something that seemed so childish and girly in their eyes. Maybe the key to convincing them was to appeal to their more childish and 'girly' side.

Private grinned to himself and went up the stairs to Rico and Skipper's room. He hadn't seen Rico for a while, which most likely meant that the older boy was spending some one-on-one time with his doll. Private still found Rico's behavior with Ms. Perky a little odd, but then again, Private pretended his toys were real all the time, so why couldn't Rico?

Private found Rico just as he had expected to, sitting on his bed, speaking sweetly in spanish to his doll. Private didn't understand what he was saying, but that was fine. Rico's words were for Ms. Perky's non existent ears, not his. Private cleared his throat to announce his presence and Rico looked up at him curiously.

"Oh, hello, Rico." Private began. "I was just wondering if you wanted to join some of us downstairs for a tea party."

"Uh, no tha'ks." Rico said, his expression clearly showing that joining them for a tea party was the last thing that he wanted to do. Private didn't get discouraged though, that was the reaction he had expected. It just meant he had to go with plan B.

"What about you, Ms. Perky? Would you like to join us?" Private said as if speaking to Rico's doll. He waited in silence for a moment before beaming. "You would? That's fantastic."

"She woul'?" Rico looked at his doll in bewilderment. The happy grin on the doll's face remained unchanged, which gave the impression that she deed indeed want to go to the tea party.

"You're free to join her, if you want to." Private said to Rico, who squinted at him suspiciously. It was beginning to seem to him that this was just a ruse to get Rico to join in their stupid party. As much as he didn't like being tricked, he actually respected Private's devious little plan. And really, it was clear that the kid really wanted him to join them. Rico would be willing to bare through a party for a bit to keep Private, (And Ms. Perky) happy. And at least they weren't watching that disgustingly cute show, The Lunacorns. *_shudder_.* It made Rico sick to his stomach just thinking about that show.

"Alrigh', fine." Rico relented. Private squealed excitedly and hugged Rico, who cringed at the embrace. If the whole tea party was this touchy feely, Rico would find himself soon regretting his decision.

"Don't you worry, Rico. The tea party will be fun, I promise." Private said. Julien, who had been walking past the room, stopped when he heard those words.

"Did somebody say party?" Julien stuck his head into the room. "I love to get my party on."

"Yes, we know, your highness." Maurice rolled his eyes. "But the kid said it was a _tea_ party, which are nothing like your regular music blastin' boogie fests."

"I knew that." Julien snapped. "And as much as I do love to shake my booty, I am a prince, and have been to plenty of those fancy-schmancy parties. They may not be as much fun, but they're still parties."

"Well, you are welcome to join us too." Private invited. After all, it wouldn't be fair to ask everybody else to join in but not these guys.

"Yay, a party!" Mort exclaimed happily. The small boy hugged Julien's legs, but was quickly kicked away.

"So, just to be checking, who is at this party of yours?" Julien asked.

"I think we have everybody except Leonard, Joey, Kowalski, Skipper, and Marlene, who isn't here." Private answered.

"Hmph, I should have known that they were far too much of scaredy cats." Julien scoffed loudly.

"Say WHAT!? Skipper growled. He had just been minding his business, talking to Kowalski in the scientist's room, when he'd heard the royal pain-in-the-butt's words, and he was not amused.

"Joey ain't a scaredy cat." Joey said, coming into the hallways from his own room, and he looked about as happy as Skipper did. Private frowned and took a step back. Skipper and Joey could be rather frightening when they were angry. Private found himself mentally cursing the fact that the walls were thin and Julien had a loud voice.

"If you aren't scaredy cats, then you wouldn't be afraid of going to some little tea party." Julien said.

"We're not scared." Skipper argued. "We just don't do tea parties. They're just not manly."

"No, what's not manly is to hide like a couple of pansies just because you don't like something." Julien countered.

Skipper glowered at Julien. How was it that someone was stupid as Julien was able to make points that made sense in a way.

"I'm not hiding from anything." Skipper said.

"Neither am I." Joey said.

"Prove it." Julien said smugly.

"Fine! I'll go to your stupid tea party." Skipper relented.

"Aye, alrigh'." Joey grumbled. "Bu' you're comin' too." He said to Leonard, who had been hiding behind him the whole time. Leonard jumped when Joey addressed him.

"Me? Why do I have to go?" Leonard whimpered.

"Because I ain' goin' ta this thing alone." Joey said, and that was the end of that. The kids all went downstairs, some more willingly than others, to have their tea party. The only one who remained was Kowalski, who was sitting in his room, marveling at how the others had allowed themselves to be conned so easily.

Kowalski rolled his eyes and simply returned to his drawing. Since he wasn't very good at writing, he often sketched out any plans or ideas he had. Now though, he wasn't plotting some impressive scientific feat. He was simply drawing, just because he enjoyed it.

Kowalski ended up losing himself in his drawing, as he often did in his science. All of his concentration was put to use to put the image he had in his mind on a blank page. Kowalski always lost track of time when he drew like this, but at one point, while he was taking a short break to admire what he had so far, the sound of someone clearing their throat, rather obnoxiously, interrupted him. Kowalski turned to the door to see Rico standing there, looking at him curiously.

"Rico, how long have you been standing there?" Kowalski stammered. Rico shrugged and came closer. He looked carefully at Kowalski's drawing for a minute before turning to the artist.

"Wha' is i'?" Rico asked.

"Well, uh, I'm not entirely sure." Kowalski said as he tilted his head and took another look. "I just drew, and that's what I ended up with." Rico nodded in understanding, because that was what happened with him too.

Rico was a bit of an artist as well, though his work was always an abstract explosion of color, with no defined form. Kowalski, on the other hand, prefered a simple lead pencil. And his drawings, though he never meant for them to, always resembled an animal or plant of sorts.

"So, what are you doing up here?" Kowalski asked as he closed his sketchbook. If Rico was there with a ploy in mind to get Kowalski to join them, he had another thing coming. Kowalski's mind and will were strong, and he wasn't about to allow himself to be tricked like the others had.

"Do 'oo wanna joi' us?" Rico asked bluntly. Kowalski blinked, completely off guard. So Rico had come up to try to get him to join them, but not through any trick, just by an invitation. What a fascinating, new, and completely unexpected strategy.

"I don't know." Kowalski began to answer uncertainly, but stopped when he saw Rico's face. Everybody said that Private had the best and most irresistible puppy face, but, surprisingly, Rico's was a close second.

"Fine, I'll join you guys." Kowalski sighed. Darn it! So much for a strong will. Kowalski just couldn't bring himself to say no to Rico when he looked at him like that. Mostly because Rico's pleading expression was always sincere, and he wasn't just using it to get what he wanted, like some annoying brats did.

Rico beamed, grabbed Kowalski's arm, and dragged him downstairs. They joined the others, not in the kitchen, but in the gym. They had pushed everything to the side, so there was plenty of space, and were having their tea party on the floor. Probably because it was less crowded then around a table.

Kowalski hesitantly took a seat on the floor between Rico and Skipper. He was still uncertain and embarrassed about this whole thing, but soon loosened up when he saw everybody else enjoying themselves. Yes, everybody. Including Skipper and Joey, was having fun, though the two of them would deny it quickly.

The tea party was simple, with the promised banana nut muffins and, of course, tea. What everyone found so enjoyable about it was just hanging out, talking. Though, it was also a lot of fun to pretend to act all posh and polite in a very disrespectful and mocking way. Everyone was so absorbed in what they were doing, they didn't even notice Marlene and Roger standing in the doorway, watching them.

"Hey guys, what're you doing in here?" Marlene's voice cut in. All the boys looked at her, their eyes wide, as if she had just caught them doing the most embarrassing thing in the world. Only Private seemed completely unfazed.

"We're having a tea party." Private declared.

"Oh really?" Marlene smirked. "Well, it's good to see that you guys did something '_manly'_ while I was off at my '_sissy'_ show_._" She looked directly at Skipper, who's face went beet red.

"Would you care to join us?" Private asked.

"Sure, why not?" Marlene laughed as she sat down by Skipper, who refused to meet her eye. Roger was also more than happy to join them. And, just like that, their tea party continued as if it hadn't been interrupted in the first place.

**So...that was random, but fun. You know, I just realized that the way I'm writing Private, it's like the kid is the glue that holds them all together.**

**Anyways, I'm sorry about the longer delay. And apologize in advance that there will be a bit of a wait before the next chapter because, starting then, I'll be adding in elements from the movie too, and I feel I should probably watch the movie again before I write it. And I'm not sure when I'll be able to get ahold of the movie, it could be a while.**


	13. A Few Changes

**And, I'm back. I watched the movie again (still love it) and am ready to write this chapter...I think. Anyways, we've have had our little fun break, but now, we're getting into the serious stuff. I mean it, and I warn you, we're past the point of tea parties now. Prepare yourself...though I'm not going to tell you what to prepare yourself for, because I don't want to spoil anything. But prepare yourself anyways.**

Evening was falling over the city. The business of the day was subsiding, but the dangers of the night weren't quite out yet. In Skipper's opinion, this time of the day was the perfect time for walking around the city.

If only they weren't in Hoboken.

Skipper truly hated it here. More than any other city. However, he had to be strong, for the others. Skipper turned around to face the seven kids behind him. Marlene, Julien, Maurice, Mort, Kowalski, Rico, and Private were all looking at him, waiting.

"Alright men...and girl." Skipper corrected after Marlene shot him a vicious glare. "We've crossed into enemy lines now, and-"

"Enemy lines?" Marlene snorted. "Don't you think you're exaggerating just a bit?"

"It doesn't matter what we call this place." Skipper snapped irritably. He hated being interrupted. "Bottom line, we're not in New York anymore, and won't be there for the next three weeks, thanks to a certain someone whose name I won't mention, Kowalski."

The intellect shrank slightly under Skipper's glare. Alright, so this was his fault. He had been working with some highly dangerous chemicals, and had let himself get distracted when mixing them. The end result was that the majority of the upper floor of their foster home had been seriously damaged. So temporary living arrangements had been made for those whose rooms needed to be fixed while repairs were made, which would take a few weeks. Those temporary living arrangements were, unfortunately, in Hoboken.

"Anyways, the point is, while we're here, it is important that we stick together as a team. No man, or girl, left behind." Skipper said. He didn't normally consider Marlene, Maurice, Mort, and certainly not Julien, members of his team. But this was Hoboken they were talking about! Exceptions must be made.

"Are we going to continue with the chitty chatty, or are we actually going to go inside already?" Julien asked, as he gestured to the building they had been standing in front of for the past five minutes.

"Yeah, we're going inside." Marlene went up to the door and knocked on it. A small intercom at the side of the door beeped as it turned on and somebody spoke from inside.

"Who is it?" A rough yet friendly voice asked.

"What do you want?" A harsher voice asked.

Marlene went over to the intercom and spoke into it. "Hey, uh, we're from the foster home in New York."

There were a few electronic noises from inside and, a minute later, the door was opened by a tall, large man who looked to be in his early to mid twenties.

"There you are. We were beginning to wonder when you were going to show up." He said. He looked them over briefly, but when his gaze fell on Private and Mort, he broke into a dopey grin.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are just _so _adorable." He gushed over them. Mort giggled and Private smiled slightly, pleased with the attention.

"Hello. I'm Private, and that's Mort, and…" Private was about to introduce all of them, but got interupted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, good for you." The harsh voice from the intercom said. The speaker was a boy who was rather short who had been standing next to the man the entire time, though none of them noticed. "Look, you can continue with the niceties inside, but we can't leave the door open all day, you know."

"No need to get all snippity-like." Julien huffed, but he followed the rest of them inside, where Private finished introducing all of them.

"Wow, there's a lot of you. We only really have three kids here." The man said. "Oh, I'm Corporal, by the way. And the little spitfire is Short Fuse." he gestured to the kid, who was closing the door.

"Corporal and Short Fuse? What kind of silly names are those?" Julien asked.

"They're no sillier of names than Skipper or Private are." Kowalski muttered. Rico snorted and Marlene chuckled slightly. Skipper took little notice of them. He was too busy watching Short Fuse, who was currently activating all types of electronic locks and security measures to the door.

"Hey, what's the big deal? You guys trying to keep somebody out?" Skipper asked.

"Hah, more like trying to keep people in." Short Fuse smirked. Skipper glared viciously at him. Keep people in? For what reason? What kind of mad house was this place.

"Do not worry, they are not for you. The locks are simply a precaution." A cold, accented voice said. From a nearby room came a young woman, who also seemed to be in her early twenties. Kowalski's eyes widened when he saw her.

"Eva, is that you?" Kowalski asked, his voice hopeful, as if he could not believe it really was her. The woman looked at him and smiled slightly.

"It is good to see you again, Kowalski." Eva said sincerely. She came over to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek, causing him to blush furiously.

"Kowalski, mind explaining to me who your friend is?" Skipper raised an eyebrow.

"Well, uh, sir, she's...uh…" Kowalski stammered.

"We're old friends." Eva said.

"Yes, old friends…that's what we were." Kowalski chuckled nervously.

Short Fuse, who had finished locking the door at this point, had become annoyed at the overly crowded hallway, so he began shoving his way through. "Alright, move over, I gotta tell the boss you guys are here."

"The boss?" Skipper questioned. Why would Short Fuse, who looked like he couldn't be much older than thirteen, have a boss?

"He probably means the one in charge." Kowalski supplied. "Most likely the person who decided on all the security measures."

"Well then, I'd like to have a word with this 'boss'." Skipper scowled. He did not like the feeling of being locked in. And, judging by the scowl on Rico's face, he didn't like it either. They all followed Short Fuse into the other room to find him talking with a man who looked to be a few years older than Skipper.

"Hey, mister boss man." Skipper called out to get the man's attention, which it did.

"Do not call me that." The man said, his voice full of annoyance.

"Than what do I call you?" Skipper asked, but the man had already returned to his conversation with Short Fuse and was currently ignoring Skipper. "Come on, you gotta have a name or something."

"My name is classified." The man said coldly. "Now, if you don't mind, I was…"

"So, Classified, mind telling me what all the locks are for?" Skipper asked.

"First off, that is not my name." Classified frowned. "Second, the security measures are to ensure that the residents of this facility can't wander off."

"What, are they dangerous or something?" Marlene asked.

"Well, little lady, that depends on who you ask." A smooth voice said. A dark skinned teenager stepped into the room. "Now, do I look dangerous to you?"

"No, not really." Marlene admitted.

"Don't be fooled by appearances, Marlene." Maurice said angrily. "Clemson is a lying, backstabbing little sneak."

"Wow, Maurice, what're the chances of us running into each other like this?" Clemson sounded astonished. "Are you still hanging around your little brother and cousin? No, wait, I see them now. Hi guys" Clemson waved at Maurice's companions. Mort waved back happily, but Julien glared at him suspiciously.

"Just stay away from Julien, Clemson." Maurice said.

"Hey, I'm not up to anything, trust me." Clemson raised his hands in surrender, "But if it makes you feel better, sure."

"Trust you? I don't even know you, and I don't trust you as far as I could throw you." Skipper scoffed.

"Only fools would trust Clemson." A tall teenager with a Spanish accent said. He stood beside Clemson and slung his arm over his shoulder.

"Alright, don't trust me, see if I care. But if you want my opinion, it's this guy you shouldn't trust." Clemson scowled and shoved the taller teenager away from him. "Believe me, you do not want to be around this guy when he gets in one of his moods."

"What kind of moods?" Private asked innocently.

Clemson folded his arms thoughtfully. "Let me see, how to explain this to innocent ears...You know what, kid, how about we just say you avoid him at all costs, but especially when he's, uh, hungry. Yeah, let's say hungry."

"Oh, so he gets cranky when hungry, just like Rico." Private deduced. Clemson burst into laughter and Rico glared at the two of them. Private just looked confused now.

"What? No, Rico and Savio are completely different stories. Seriously, not even the same genre." Clemson chuckled.

"No soy nada como Savio." Rico growled.

"Veremos sobre eso, Rico." Savio said matter of factly.

"Alright, enough with the foreign speaking, you two." Skipper said. He ignored for a minute the fact that Rico seemed to know Savior and Clemson already, as that didn't really matter right now. What did matter, was that Skipper did not like how this Savio guy was looking at some of the others with a look in his eyes that was almost hungry. Skipper decided right then that there was no way he was going to let this predator anywhere near the others.

Skipper began to become concerned. If Savio and Clemson were only two of the three kids being kept here, Skipper didn't even want to know who the last one was. They already had a sneak and a creeper, what else would they have to deal with?

"Why are we having so many people in here?" The sound of this new, familiar voice, made shivers go down Skipper's spine. No, he had to be hearing things. _He_ couldn't actually be here...could he? Apparently, he could, as a young man with pitch-black hair came into the room.

Skipper and the new-comer made eye contact and just stared at each other for a minute, not believing who they were seeing. Then the black-haired boy grinned broadly.

"Skippsy!" He exclaimed. He ran towards Skipper and caught him in an embrace. Skipper was stiff and caught off guard. He hadn't thought he would have to see this guy ever again. What was he even doing here? It only took a moment for Skipper to put himself together.

"Hans, get off!" Skipper harshly shoved him away. Hans frowned at Skipper.

"What, you're not still mad at me, are you?" Hans asked. Skipper glared at him fiercely.

"After what you did? of course I'm still mad at you." Skipper shouted.

"But it happened such a long time ago, we haven't even seen each other for six years." Hans said in a slightly whiney tone.

"I know, and that's not long enough for me. If I never saw you again, I'd be happy." Skipper said.

"But…" Hans trailed off when he saw that Skipper meant what he said. Hans sighed sadly and backed away, giving Skipper his personal space back.

"Well, uh," Kowalski cleared his throat. "So, where is everybody sleeping?" Yes, it was a random question, but the only thing he could think of to clear the air of its awkwardness.

"I believe you can decide that for yourselves." Classified said coldly. "We have three rooms for all of you to share, you should be capable of deciding who is sleeping where."

"Wait, three rooms, for all of us?" Skipper asked. "Including them?" He gestured to Hans, Clemson, and Savio.

"Yes, including them." Classified said, his voice full of annoyance.

"The girl will, of course, be rooming with me." Eva said.

Skipper groaned. So that was one down, and a bunch to go. Well, at least he knew who he was _not_ going to have sharing a room with Savio. That would be Maurice, Mort, Julien, Private, and, surprisingly, Clemson as well. In short, all the people that Savio had looked at with that dangerous look in his eyes.

It was obvious that Julien and his cousins did not get along with Clemson, at all, so best not to put them in the same room. In fact, he may as well put the three of them in one room and call it good.

Clemson and Private would be in one of the remaining rooms, while Savio would be in the other. Of course, Skipper still didn't trust Clemson, that guy could very well be planning something. No, it would be best if someone more than just Private could keep an eye on him. Kowalski was out of the question, because he had different plans for the next few weeks. So that left him and Rico. Whoever was left would share a room with Savio and Hans.

Well, that made it easy to decide.

"Alright, Maurice, you and the party animals are going to be sharing a room." Skipper barked out directions. "Clemson, you're with me and Private. Which leaves Rico to keep an eye on Savio and Hans." Rico immediately began to protest.

"why me?" Rico asked simply. Skipper sighed and pulled him aside.

"Look, somebody needs to keep an eye on this guy and keep him away from the others." Skipper whispered.

"Bu' why me?" Rico repeated.

"Who else am I going to trust to keep Savio in line?" Skipper asked. In truth, he just didn't want to be anywhere near Hans.

"Why can' 'oo do i'?" Rico crossed his arms stubbornly, and Skipper grew frustrated. Rico always did what he asked, without question, and he chooses now to go against him? Skipper wasn't going to have it. As stubborn as Rico could be, Skipper was even worse.

"Listen carefully, Rico." Skipper said, his patience growing thin. "You are going to bunk with those two, alright? You're going to keep Savio away from the others, and Hans away from me. You are not to take your eye off of either of them, not even for a minute, understood?" At this point, Skipper's face was just inches away from Rico's as they stared each other down.

"Why shoul' I?" Rico snarled.

"Because it's a direct order." Skipper snapped, using the words he had grown so used to hearing when he was a child. Rico's eyes widened, almost fearfully, but he nodded. Skipper inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. He had won that battle. True, he had all but forced Rico into doing the job instead of him, and Skipper felt bad about that. But he was desperate. Besides, Rico would get over it.

"Bu', wha' 'bou' K'walski?" Rico asked quietly, which was strange for him. "Can' 'e do i'?"

"Of course Kowalski can't do it, he's not even going to be here." Skipper said exasperatedly. Rico gasped and looked at Kowalski, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"'oor no' gonna be 'ere?" Rico asked, his eyes wide. Why wouldn't Kowalski be here with them for the next three weeks? Where else would he be?

"Uh, no, I'm not." Kowalski said, somewhat nervously. He knew he probably should have told Rico sooner, but he just didn't think about it. He had other things occupying his mind.

"Where 'oo goin'?" Rico asked. Kowalski opened his mouth to answer, but Skipper beat him to the punch.

"He's going to be spending the month with a couple who, believe it or not, are wanting to adopt him." Skipper said bluntly. Rico blinked. Someone wanted to adopt Kowalski? That was just...wow.

"Yes, thank you, Skipper, I think I'll take it from here." Kowalski said before Skipper could say something else. Kowalski dragged Rico back into the hallway so they could speak alone for a minute.

"'oor leavin'?" Rico asked, almost desperately. Kowalski was his best friend, and he was just going to leave him here? Rico didn't want to deal with Savio by himself, not again.

"Not permanently." Kowalski assured him. He bit back the words '_Not yet.' _as Rico looked upset enough as it was. "It's just for the month, as a test run of sorts, to see if me living with them will work."

"Do 'oo wanna ge' 'dopted?" Rico asked.

"Are you kidding? That's all I've ever wanted, to have a family." Kowalski said.

"Bu' wha' 'bou' us?" Rico asked. He had begun to look at their small group is a type of strange family. That he, Private, Skipper, and Kowalski were not just friends, but more like brothers. He knew that Private felt the same way. But since Kowalski was so willing to just leave them, he obviously didn't see things that way.

"Rico, I need a real family, a normal one." Kowalski said impatiently. Why was Rico being so difficult about this? It wasn't like they weren't ever going to see each other again if Kowalski got adopted. There was no need for Rico to look so upset and disappointed, like he'd been betrayed by a friend. If anything, that was how Kowalski felt.

After all, this was what Kowalski had always wanted, a chance to have a home again. It kind of hurt that Rico wasn't being supportive about this chance he had of getting a new family. Skipper was happy for him, so why couldn't Rico at least pretend he was?

"We'll still be friends, alright? We just won't see each other as often." Kowalski tried to get Rico to understand. He _needed_ Rico to understand and be okay with this. Rico just shook his head.

"Don' care." Rico scowled. He ignored anything else that Kowalski tried to say to him, he just didn't want to hear it right now. Rico just walked away and went to the room that he would be sharing with Savio and Hans for the next three weeks. He still wasn't happy about that, and he didn't necessarily want to be in the room at the moment. But more than, he didn't want to be near any of the others, he just couldn't handle it right now.

Rico punched the wall in frustration. Why was this happening to him? First, he had to run into Clemson, Hans, _and_ Savio again, and that wasn't a good sign at all. Rico had nothing but bad memories connected to those guys, bad memories that he would rather forget.

As if that wasn't bad enough, then Skipper had to be all commanding at him, which Rico hated. He didn't like being told what to do, especially if it was out-right ordered. Rico wanted nothing more than to defy Skipper's orders, but he couldn't. He was too scared.

And then, for Kowalski to just be so willing to leave them, to leave _him_. That was just too much for Rico to take. He tried to ignore the twisting feeling in his stomach, but he couldn't. Rico sat down and leaned against the door, a feeling of dread and loneliness came over him.

'_So much for sticking together as a team.' _Rico thought bitterly. He curled up into a ball, and just sobbed.

***Translations.**

**No soy nada como Savio. = I am nothing like Savio**

**Veremos sobre eso, Rico. = We will see about that, Rico.**

**And there's the chapter. It took all week for me to write, seriously, it was hard. But I think I did a pretty good job. The new characters I threw in, all seven of them, seem to be in character, though I'll let you be the judge of that.**

**Gosh, I just threw a bunch of stuff at you guys, didn't I? I hope the chapter wasn't rushed, and that I didn't overwhelm you with all the new characters and stuff.**

**I'll be back with the next chapter soon, and I hope that this one was worth the wait.**


	14. Skipper's past (part 1)

**You know, we've centered so much around Rico and Kowalski issues, that we haven't given Skipper nearly enough attention. Well, that's what this chapter is for, to give Skipper some problems that he has to deal with, and I hope I do it effectively.**

**Italicized means it's a flashback.**

Skipper knew that, as he was the one in charge of his little group, he should be helping them get situated into their temporary residence. But he wasn't, he was in his room, with the door locked behind him so that he could get some privacy for a bit. If anybody needed anything, well, they could just go to Kowalski. For even though Kowalski wasn't staying there with them, he had volunteered to be there for a few hours that first day, in case he was needed.

Skipper was very grateful for this, as it gave him a chance to wrap his mind around some things. Like the fact that they were going to share a house with a bunch of loons. And for one of those loons to be Hans, of all people, made everything so much worse. And now, there was one question plaquing Skipper's mind.

What the heck was Hans doing there anyways?! And what was he up to? Skipper knew that he was up to no good, because that devious Dane was never not up to no good. Well, whatever it was, Skipper wasn't about to get involved in it, not again. Skipper had made the mistake of getting himself roped into one of Hans' schemes once before, and nothing but chaos and destruction ensued from it.

It had been years ago, but the memory still haunted Skipper to this day.

_It had all started because of his dad's job. Back then, he didn't often get called out to sea. Instead, he worked at different military bases around the world. His father would be at one base for any given time between a few weeks to a year, then, they'd move on. Skipper never knew exactly what his father did at these bases, but he didn't care, the secret was kinda thrilling to him._

_Skipper never minded moving around all the time. He really enjoyed staying at military bases all the time. There were even other military kids around sometimes, so it wasn't like he didn't have friends. He was happy with how his life was, so he didn't understand why has father was trying to change it on him._

"_What do you mean I'm not staying with you at the base?" Skipper asked sorely. "Sir." He added hastily when his father shot him a stern look. His father hated it when kids complained or talked back to him, and Skipper had been doing a bit of both._

"_Skipper, stop overreacting, this is not the end of the world." His father reprimanded. "It's only for a month or so while I'm positioned here."_

"_But why aren't I staying at the base this time?" Skipper asked, making his voice more curious than complaining._

"_Because it's not right for a kid like you to be living on military bases all the time." His father said. "Besides, there are some people who have really been looking forward to you staying with them."_

_Skipper was confused. That didn't make any sense. The base his dad would be working at was in Denmark, and they knew almost no one who lived there, except…Oh, now Skipper understood, though he didn't like it much._

"_You're really expecting me to stay with _them _for a month?" Skipper questioned. By the look his father gave him, yes, that was exactly what was expected. "C'mon, I can't stay with them. I barely know them."_

"_Which is why we think it would be good for you to stay with them." His father sighed when Skipper still didn't look convinced. "Look, you may not know them very well, but you should. After all, they are your family, you can't change that."_

_Alright, so his dad was right, he should get to know them. And things couldn't honestly go so badly. So Skipper stopped his complaining and stayed silent on the matter. Though upon arriving at their destination, a quaint little house near Copenhagen, Skipper got a twisting feeling in his stomach. It felt like something in his gut was warning him, telling him that something bad was going to happen._

_Skipper tried to ignore the feeling though. It was probably just nerves anyways. It had, after all, been years since he'd seen them for more than a few hours at a time. Skipper shoved his nervousness aside as his father knocked on the front door of the house. No sooner had his knocks ended then the door was flung open._

_Skipper and his father were greeted by a familiar, cheerful, gentle looking woman who quickly gestured for them to come inside. The interior of the house was just as simple and homely looking as the outside was. Skipper was only able to survey his surroundings for a moment before the woman enveloped him in a tight embrace._

"_Oh, Skipper, it is so good to see you." She gushed. "It's been too long since I've seen you, and I've missed you so much."_

_Skipper hid a grimace of annoyance and resisted to urge to pull away from her. He was not a hugger, at all. But, clearly, the woman was, so Skipper let her hug him. Partly because he secretly enjoyed the affection, and partly because he knew if he ended the embrace, her feelings would be hurt, and when her feelings were hurt, she tended to get...dramatic._

"_It's only been a little over a year since we last saw each other." Skipper pointed out. There had been much larger gaps in their visitations than just a year. "But I missed you too...Ma." at his words, the woman, who was, in fact, his mother, only tightened her hold on him. Fortunately, her suffocatingly tight hug lasted only a moment longer before she ended it and turned her attention to Skipper's father._

_Skipper breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he could breath again. He had forgotten how smotherly Ma could be. He'd better get used to it soon if he was going to survive being here for more than a month. For now though, as long as Ma was talking to his dad, Skipper had a break._

_Except, Skipper's break didn't last nearly as long as he would have liked. Barely a minute had passed before he was attacked again. One second, Skipper was just standing there, the next, someone jumped onto his back and covered his eyes with their hands._

"_Guess who." The person said playfully. Skipper rolled his covered up eyes. Who it was wasn't a mystery at all. There was only one other person who could possibly be at the house._

"_Look, I know it's you. Now get off me." Skipper growled. The person made no movement to move though, so Skipper took matters into his own hands. Skipper grabbed their hands and flung him from off his back onto the ground. Skipper smirked smugly at his attacker, a dark-haired twelve-year old boy, who looked dazed from hitting the ground._

"_Ow," The kid winced. "That wasn't very nice." Skipper rolled his eyes. What did this guy know about being nice?_

"_Yeah, well, neither is sneaking up on people from behind, Hans." Skipper scolded. Hans pouted sulkily and looked to the side. Skipper glared at him sternly for another moment, then sighed and offered his hand to help him up. Hans looked up at him curiously, then, with a mischievous smirk, took the hand. But instead of letting himself be lifted to his feet, he pulled Skipper down to the ground next to him._

_Skipper grunted when he hit the floor harshly. He glared at Hans, who was laughing at him. Skipper was angry that Hans had tricked him like that...again. Mostly, he was mad at himself, for falling for it...again! He really should have known better. Hans was a lying, deceitful, possessive, childish jerk. Skipper often wondered why he even hung out with Hans._

_The two of them were nothing alike, and had nothing in common. They didn't have many common interests and always argued or fought whenever they were in the same room together._

_Despite that, they still got along relatively well, and Skipper, though he was likely to deny it, enjoyed Hans company sometimes. Hans often said it was because they were connected, that it was a 'twin thing', thought Skipper didn't entirely buy it._

_Yes, Hans and Skipper were twin brothers, though one wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at them. Hans was the spitting image of their mother, while Skipper looked like he could be their father in miniature. The only physical aspect the two shared was their dark hair. Their personalities were very different too, this was partly because they were raised in completely different situations._

_Their parents had divorced when they were really young. Their father returned to his home, in America, and took Skipper with him. Hans, on the other hand, had stayed with their Ma in Copenhagen, her home. They saw each other once or twice every year or so, but that was it, nothing more._

_Skipper glared at Hans once more for good measure before walking over to where their parents were talking. Hans chuckled again before joining them as well. Ma was trying to make friendly talk, but their father was a straightforward man who didn't like beating around the bush and had other places to be. So he always brought the topic of conversation back to making sure she knew what she was doing, having two twelve-year olds who didn't get along in her house._

"_Don't worry so much, I have everything under control." Ma brushed off their father's concern easily. "And I am looking forward to having two boys at home again." She began sobbing a little. "You have no idea how lonely it has gotten with just me here." Skipper was confused. What was Ma talking about? Hans had been here, hadn't he?_

"_Well, if you're sure you can handle them, I've got to be leaving for the base soon." Their father said. "Now boys, I expect you two to behave yourselves." He looked pointedly at Hans, who fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze. "And keep each other out of trouble." This was addressed to Skipper, who nodded. He had been planning on keeping Hans out of trouble anyways._

_But just what kind of trouble did their dad expect him to get into anyways? _

_No more was explained on the subject though. Their father, who was not the sentimental type, nodded at the boys, the look in his eyes only somewhat softer than usual, and left without another word._

_Skipper frowned as he got a twisting feeling in his stomach again, though it was different than before. This feelings wasn't because he felt something bad was going to happen, it was because he didn't like the fact that his father was gone, so quickly._

_The truth was, Skipper was upset that his father was gone. The man may not be the most loving father anyone could hope for, but he was Skipper's dad, and the boy hadn't ever stayed anywhere without his dad being nearby. It was a little...unsettling._

"_Skipper, you are alright, yes?" Skipper blinked and looked over at Hans, whose eyes showed a rare look of concern._

"_Yeah, I'm fine." Skipper said irritably as he brushed a couple of stupid tears away from his eyes. He wasn't crying, alright? He wasn't! He just had something in his eyes or something...yeah, that was the lamest excuse ever._

"_So, is there anything to do around here?" Skipper asked. He just needed to do something to take his thoughts off his dad. Maybe get out of the house, even though he had only just gotten there. "Or do you just sit at home all day?"_

_Strangely, Hans' face darkened at the question and he glared at the ground. Skipper was confused. What had he said?_

"_There is plenty of stuff to be doing in Copenhagen." Hans said in a quiet, dangerous tone. "But I am not allowed to be leaving the house."_

"_Why, are you grounded?" Skipper raised an eyebrow questioningly. It's not that he couldn't imagine Hans getting in enough trouble to be grounded, because he could. It was just that Ma didn't seem like the grounding type, at all._

_It was then that Ma stepped in. "Skipper, honey, Hans' isn't grounded. He's, well, under house arrest."_

"_House arrest?" Skipper was shocked. Being grounded was one thing, but this? Skipper knew that Hans was a troublemaker, but not this much. "What did you do?"_

"_I just got in some trouble, that's all." Hans said, his tone suggesting that he didn't want to talk about it. And Skipper could respect that. If Hans didn't want to explain it, he didn't. Though Skipper still had a few questions._

"_Were you detained at all?"_

"_Yes, I only got home a few days ago." Hans said. Well, at least that explained Ma's words earlier, about it being just her at the house._

"_And do you know how long you'll be under house arrest?" Skipper asked._

_Hans shrugged. "We may be stuck here for awhile."_

"_Now, Hans, it's not fair of you to ask Skipper to stay home with you." Ma scolded. "You may not be able to leave, but your brother is free to come and go as he pleases."_

_Hans gasped and looked at Skipper with hurt, pleading eyes. "You would leave me all alone?" Hans all but whimpered. Skipper felt a small pang of something akin to sympathy. Skipper may not have known Hans well, but he knew that, as long as he had known Hans, he had never seen him with or heard him talk about any friends. As far as Skipper knew, he was Hans' only friend._

_Skipper sighed in defeat. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm sure we'll find something to do here." Hans smiled appreciatively and Skipper found himself glad he had agreed to something so simple._

_So, they spent the next few days, sitting around the house, doing absolutely nothing. Skipper was kind of bored out of his mind, but he meant what he said, he would stay at the house with Hans. Even if there was nothing to do._

_Hans had plenty of things to do, such as coloring, baking, and other things that most twelve-year olds wouldn't be caught dead doing. Skipper had nothing against these hobbies, per se, they just weren't for him._

_Skipper, meanwhile, spent the time training himself. He worked through different drills his father had taught him, and became stronger. To Skipper, nothing was more fun than training...except, maybe, explosives. But what twelve-year old didn't like explosives?_

_True, he didn't spend any time with Hans, so one might wonder why he bothered keeping his promise to stay near his brother if they weren't doing anything together. But really, it was more the idea of the thing. Skipper knew that Hans was just happy that Skipper was willing to stay behind for him._

_Skipper was engrossed in his training. He was practicing leaps, punches, kicks, and other things. Skipper, who had always been kind of (really) paranoid, became even more so when he trained. When his instincts were at their sharpest. So when he heard a sudden noise during his training, he wasted little time before sending a sharp kick toward the source of the noise._

_There was a yelp of surprise, and Skipper felt his foot come in contact with someone. He was shocked to see Hans standing there, but he didn't seem hurt or affected at all. In fact, he had somehow managed to catch Skipper's swift kick and was still holding Skipper's foot in his hands._

_Skipper tried to pull his foot away, but Hans' grip was strong. Hans shrugged and, with a quick movement of his hands, made Skipper fall to his back. Now Skipper was more surprised than ever. He had pride in his good sense of balance, even on just one foot. He really hadn't expected Hans to be able to fell him._

"_How'd you do that?" Skipper asked as he got back to his feet. Hans just shrugged nonchalantly. Skipper grew curious. Had Hans just gotten lucky, or was he hiding some skills?_

"_Show me what you got." Skipper got in a fighting position. Hans blinked, but then he too took a fighting stance. Skipper knew then that it hadn't been a fluke, Hans had known what he was doing. He could tell just by looking at his stance._

_Hans was the one who made the first move. It would have been a decent hit, but Skipper ducked and dodged to the right, then immediately sent a punch towards Hans. He thought it would be an easy hit, that Hans would be off balance because of his missed attack. But, Hans saw the punch coming, and quickly blocked it._

_Hans smirked at Skipper, who returned the look slyly. Alright, so Skipper had underestimated him. Even though they hadn't even been at this for a minute, it was clear that Hans was good, really good. It was a pleasant surprise. Well, at least now the two of them had something they could do together._

_So for the next two weeks, that's what they did. They still had a fair amount of alone time, but now they also spent time with each other too. And they weren't always fighting either. They also played chess often, though it took some time for Skipper to teach Hans the rules of the game. _

_Most of their time together though was spent sparring. It soon became clear to the two of them that they were pretty evenly matched. It was strange, usually Skipper was able to get the upper hand over someone once he'd found the pattern of their fighting style. With Hans though, he couldn't. Hans' fighting style was very similar to Skipper's, so it was less like fighting an opponent, and more like fighting himself, which was a lot harder._

_Hans put off their similar fighting styles to 'twin telepathy'. Skipper thought it more likely that Hans was copying his style._

_Ma, who was very opposed to violence of any sort, didn't approve of their sparring all the time. But, she was glad to see her boys getting along, for once. So she supposed that, just as long as nobody got hurt, it was alright for them to continue. They'd better be very, very careful though, or they would be in so much trouble._

_And they were pretty careful. The brothers had actually hurt each other more during their normal fights than they did during their spars. Sure, they each got a couple of bumps and bruises, but nothing serious at all._

_One day, things got switched up though. Skipper and Hans had just been in the middle of their daily sparring. They were exchanging kicks and blows, neither managing to get an edge on the other. So, basically, just like any other time. That is, it was, until a voice that most definitely did not belong to Ma, interrupted._

"_Wow, it's like watching you fight a mirror, Skipper." The two boys became distracted by the new arrival, and Hans, who was about to defend himself against Skipper's oncoming kick, let his guard down for a moment. The moment though was long enough for him to get hit with a foot to the chest._

"_But, of course, a clone can't beat the original." Another voice joked. Skipper's eyes became wide when he saw who it was. The two observers were teenagers that Skipper knew well, and was surprised, but happy, to see them._

"_Manfredi, Johnson, what the heck are you two doing here?" Skipper asked, pleased. Manfredi and Johnson were both military kids, like Skipper. Their dads were often assigned to work with his dad, so Skipper saw them often. They were his best friends, even though they were nearly five years older than him._

"_Our dad's are stationed here in Denmark." Manfredi explained._

"_Yeah, and after hearing about you not staying on the base for a bit, our dad's thought it might do us some good to do the same." Johnson said._

"_So, what, you're staying here?" Skipper questioned. He wouldn't put it past Ma to invite them to stay there too. The more the merrier, that's how she felt._

"_Yep. You didn't think you'd get away from us that easily, did you?" Johnson said. The three of them began talking, none of them bothered to notice the other boy in the room, glowering at them._

_Hans glared at the three of them. Just who did those two think they were? To just come in, say they were staying, and then steal Skipper's attention. Talk about unfair. Hans knew then that he didn't like them. Actually, he knew he didn't like them when they called him a mirror and a clone. Those were very nice names. But, why hadn't Skipper defended him? Did he agree with them? Did Skipper honestly think he was just being a copycat when they sparred?_

_Hans sighed and rubbed his sore chest, which hurt, a lot. Not only on the outside, where a bruise was surely forming from where Skipper had hit him. But also on the inside, because Skipper was ignoring him, preferring to talk with his stupid friends than him._

_Hans pouted in self pity until he caught a few words of their conversation._

"_So, Skipper, you want to go and check out the town with us? I'm sure there's gotta be something to do in Copperwagon" One of the stupid idiots had said._

"_Copenhagen." Hans corrected under his breath sadly. Skipper was going to leave him, he just knew it. He could that Skipper was close friends with these guys, so, obviously, he'd much rather hang out with them than with his trouble-making brother._

"_Uh, actually, I think we should just stick around here." Skipper announced. Hans blinked. Had he heard right? Was Skipper really going to stay here, for him?_

"_Come on, Skipper, you hate being cooped up." The other stupid idiot said. Yes, Hans was insisting on not calling them by their names. Hey, if they were going to call him a clone, then he could call them stupid idiots._

"_Well, yeah, but Hans isn't allowed to leave, so we have to stay here." Skipper said. Hans felt his heart soar. So Skipper was staying for him._

"_So Hans can stay here while we got out, what's the big deal?"_

"_We can't leave him here, he'd just follow us, and then he'd get in big trouble, and then we'll all get in trouble." Skipper huffed. Hans' heart sank at these words. So, Skipper was only staying to make sure that Hans stayed? Not to keep him company? That was...disappointing._

_But, at least he was staying, right? Except, Hans knew that Skipper really wanted to be with his friends, he could see it in his eyes, and it wouldn't be long before Skipper agreed. Then they'd all leave, and Hans would be left by himself._

_No, he was not going to let that happen. He was not going to be left alone. If Skipper wanted to go out, fine, then he would too._

"_Actually, Skipper, I think we should go. I'm tired of being inside all the time." Hans said. Skipper was stunned by Hans' words._

"_But, won't you get in trouble?" He asked. Hans simply waved away his concern._

"_I'll only be in trouble if I get caught." Hans said. Skipper didn't look convinced, but Hans wasn't going to take no for an answer. If Skipper was leaving the house, than so was he._

"_Come on, SKipper, I know just what we can do." Hans said, a mischievous tone in his voice. Skipper knew that Hans was up to something, and the return of the twisting feeling in his gut told him it wasn't going to be good._

"_Fine, I'll come." Skipper relented, if only so he could keep an eye on Hans, to keep him out of trouble, like he had promised he would._

"_Don't worry so much, Skipper, it'll be a blast, I promise." Hans said as the four of them were leaving._

_If only they knew just how literal those words would be._

**Alright, so I decided to put Skipper's past into two parts, because, seriously, it's already really long as it is. Don't worry, the next chapter won't be nearly as long (probably).**

**So, as you probably noticed, I took some creative liberties with this chapter. I made Hans and Skipper twins, which I can do, because it's humanized. And, I think it works. Oh, and their Ma, is based off of Ma, the possum in **_**Smotherly Love. **_**I mean, really, who else could possibly be a motherly figure for the both of them.**

**I hope nobody is too outraged with my character relationship choices, because I'm standing by them, I like them. And I hope the characters are still, you know, in character.**


	15. Skipper's Past (part 2)

**Alright, now to continue on with Skipper's past.**

_Hans' plan had seemed innocent enough at first. And they had all agreed to go along with it. None of them could have suspected how horribly wrong it was going to go. It was supposed to have been just a harmless prank._

_Skipper couldn't remember what Han's had been planning in the first place, though he thought it had something to do with an open-faced sandwich. Whatever the original plan had been, things had spiraled way out of control._

_None of them knew just how, but somewhere in all their plans, something had gone horribly wrong. The next few hours after that were blurred together. They were full of many explosions, chases, and all sorts of chaos. Skipper was very glad when things started to wind down a bit. The four boys were able to find a relatively abandoned inside an old building where they hopefully would be able to hide in peace for a few minutes._

_Skipper hated hiding, or running, it was cowardly. But right now, they didn't really have much of a choice. The entire city of Copenhagen was in a state of panic and chaos. There was destruction everywhere, people were getting hurt, or worse, and if the authorities knew that the four boys were behind all of it...well, it was best that they just lie low for now._

"_We really messed up." Skipper muttered under his breath, glancing out the window._

"_Ya," Hans agreed sadly, his eyes to the floor. He lifted his gaze and looked out the window too, a determined look came to his eyes. "I need to check it out." He began heading for the door._

"_Whoa, wait, Hans, you can't go out there." Skipper grabbed his brother's arm to stop him. Hans' turned toward Skipper and glared at him, though Skipper saw something akin to fear in his eyes._

"_Let me go, Skipper." Hans' pleaded. "I just need to know what is going on out there. I will not be long, I promise." Skipper was about to refuse him again when Hans' kicked him right in the chest. It wasn't too hard, but enough for Skipper to loosen his hold on Hans' arm. Hans pulled out of Skipper's grip altogether and left the building before anyone else could stop him. Skipper was about to go after him, but was stopped by his friends._

"_Just let him go, Skipper." Manfredi said._

"_But he might get caught." Skipper objected._

"_We don't even know for sure than people are after us." Johnson pointed out._

"_And even if they are, and he does get caught, who cares? This whole thing is his fault anyways." Manfredi pointed out._

"_I'd care if he got caught." Skipper said fiercely. "And he's not the only one to blame here. It may have been his idea, but we all went along with it. The blame is on all of us."_

"_Alright, Skipper, just calm down." Johnson said. "Nobody's going to get caught. Hans said he'd be back soon, so why don't we just wait?" Skipper didn't like the idea of waiting, but agreed to it anyway. _

_It was only a few minutes later that Hans' returned, though it felt like much, much longer. Skipper was relieved when Hans came back, though he was concerned at how pale and worried Hans looked._

"_Are you okay? What happened out there?" Skipper asked._

"_I'm fine, Skipper, I just-" Hans began, but he was interrupted._

"_So, did you find out anything?" Manfredi cut in._

"_The destruction is spreading, and my home is right in its path." Hans said quietly._

"_Which means that Ma's in danger." Skipper grew worried too. "We have to go make sure she's safe."_

"_We can't go out there, Skipper." Hans argued. "We will be in huge trouble if we get caught."_

"_So there are people after us." Skipper muttered. He knew he wasn't just being paranoid. "But we can't just sit here and do nothing. We have to help Ma."_

"_How 'bout we split up?" Johnson suggested. "Me and Manfredi will drive by your house and make sure your mom's alright, and you two just wait here." _

_Skipper wasn't too keen on the suggestion, as it was just more of him, waiting around and doing nothing. Hans, on the other hand, was all for the idea._

"_I don't know. I mean, what if you guys run into trouble?" Skipper asked._

"_Yeah, like anybody would be able to catch us." Manfredi chuckled. "We'll be fine Skipper. You kids just stay out of trouble while we're gone." Skipper and Hans both scowled at being called kids. Manfredi just laughed more at their reaction as he and Johnson left._

_Barely a minute after the two of them had left, Hans' demeanor changed completely. He went over to the door and cautiously looked outside. He must've seen something he didn't like, because he hastily slammed the door shut and made his way to one of the side windows instead. He glanced out it quickly and, seeing nobody through, used his elbow to break through the glass._

"_Hans, what the heck are you doing?" Skipper hissed. Hans ignored him and climbed through the now broken window. He gestured for Skipper to follow him, and then ran off. Skipper rolled his eyes and groaned, but did go off after him. There was no way he was letting Hans' run off on his own now that he knew that people were after them._

_Skipper followed Hans' blindly for fifteen minutes. Hans never answered any questions of why they were running off, or where they were going. Hans just kept running on, and Skipper had little choice but to follow him. Hans only stopped when they reached the outer edge of Copenhagen._

"_Hans, what was all that about?" Skipper asked as he tried to catch his breath. "We were supposed to stay behind and wait for Manfredi and Johnson."_

"_You can't stay here, Skipper, you have to leave Denmark." Was Hans' only answer._

"_Leave Denmark? Just how much trouble are we in?" Skipper asked. Hans shook his head and looked at the ground._

"_Not 'we', Skipper, you." Hans corrected him._

"_Why just me?" Skipper asked. Hans just shook his head again and took a step back._

"_I heard a radio report." Hans said slowly, still refusing to make eye contact with Skipper. "They know what we did, and we're all in trouble for it. But you most of all."_

"_Why would I be in more trouble than the rest of you?" Skipper repeated sternly. Why was Hans avoiding his question like this?_

"_Because they think that you are the mastermind behind it all." Hans said quickly, to get it over it._

"_Me? I was against this idea the whole time." Skipper objected. He stepped closer to Hans and poked a finger at his chest. "This whole thing was your stupid idea!"_

"_I know." Hans admitted. "But they think it was yours."_

"_So just go to the police and tell them otherwise." Skipper shouted. "Explain what happened."_

"_I can't, Skipper." Hans' said desperately. "I wasn't even supposed to leave the house. If everybody knew that this was my fault...No, I can't tell them. I'm sorry."_

_Skipper couldn't believe his ears. Hans was really going to let him take the fall for his own stupid mistake? Really though, Skipper guessed he should have seen this coming. He should have known that Hans' was nothing more than a lying, manipulative coward who only thought about himself._

_Skipper clenched his fists. He was sick and tired of Hans acting like this. Hans always acted out, and did stupid things, but then he'd run and hide, letting someone else face the consequences. It was no wonder he didn't have any friends. Skipper shook his head, turned around and began to walk away, back toward Copenhagen._

"_Sk-skipper, where are you going?" Hans' asked, his voice full of panic. "You need to leave, not go back."_

_Skipper didn't answer Hans. He didn't turn around and glare at Hans. He didn't yell at him, or fight him, or anything. Skipper just ignored him. Hans' really wasn't worth any of his attention anymore._

_Skipper was planning on leaving Copenhagen, leaving Denmark, but not now. He wasn't going anywhere until he knew that Manfredi, Johnson, and Ma were walked for a bit, until he got a twisting feeling in his gut, just like the one he got when he first arrived, except worse. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. _

_Unable to ignore the feeling, Skipper ran the rest of the way. They had to be okay. They just had to. The nearer he got to his destination, the worse he felt, but he pushed the feelings aside. He kept telling himself that everything was going to be fine. When he finally got to Ma's house, Skipper fell to his knees when he saw just how wrong he was._

_What remained of the house was still ablaze. Skipper's last hope burned away with the house. He could see two cars near the house. One belonged to Ma, the other was Manfredi and Johnson's. Which meant that his friends had arrived here, but hadn't left. Which meant they were in the still burning building. If that was the case, than...it was too late. The likelihood of anybody still surviving in there was very, very low._

_They were gone._

_Manfredi, Johnson, who were his two best friends in the world. And Ma...they were all gone. Skipper didn't even try to stop the tears that began to fall. This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to have happened. And as Skipper knelt on the ground and cried, one thought burned furiously through his mind._

_Manfredi was right,_

_This was all Hans' fault._

**Yep, there was Skipper's past with Hans. Confusing, wasn't it? I hope you understood it enough though. I apologize right now for killing off Ma, but I had too...Okay, I guess I didn't **_**have**_ **to, but for the sake of the story, I did.**


	16. Private's Friends

**I'm sorry for the long wait. You know, I just realized how often I've said that. I'm starting to sound like a broken record or something.**

**Anyways, I say we get back to some of the other kids, like...Private.**

**Speaking of Private, it has been pointed out to me that I haven't been consistent with his age. Apparently, in the first chapter, I said he was ten, then, later, in an author's note, I said he was nine, because I forgot that I had said his name before hand. So, I'm here to clear up all remaining confusion. Private is 10 years old, because that's the age I said in the actual story, while the other was just a note. **

**I apologize for the inconsistency before, I really didn't notice. Thank you to the people who pointed it out to me.**

The kids had only been at the Hoboken place for a few days, and Private already knew that he didn't like it there, and couldn't wait until they could go back home to New York already. They weren't allowed to leave this temporary home, because Classified wouldn't let anyone leave. It was one of his many, _many_ rules.

Usually, Private wouldn't mind so much being cooped inside all the time, as long as he had something to occupy himself. But there just wasn't a lot of things to do in this home. Classified and his team had their secret work to do, so any part of the house that they used for that work was strictly off-limits.

Classified wasn't the only setting up restrictions either. Skipper had practically forbidden most of them from going anywhere near that kid, Savio. Private was usually against making any harsh judgements against someone without really getting to know them first, but these time, Private was fine taking Skipper's word for it, that Savio was dangerous. There was just something about that guy that gave Private the creeps, so he was more than happy to stay away from him.

Unfortunately, this also meant staying away from Rico.

When they'd first arrived at this place, Skipper had given Rico the task of keeping an eye on Savio. Rico took this job very seriously and never took his eyes off of him. Wherever Savio went, Rico was right behind him, making sure he toed the line.

Private did not like that Rico was constantly tailing Savio everywhere he went, and not just because he couldn't hang out with Rico when he was always around Savio. No, it was more than that. It just felt...wrong, somehow.

Private had barely seen Rico at all these past few days, but what he had seen led him to think that Rico was avoiding him, and everybody else, and not just because he was busy following Savio. Rico seemed really bothered about something, and he got more upset everyday. Maybe it was just that Rico didn't like being Savio, and was becoming moody because of it. Private hoped that that was the case, because if it was, Rico would go back to normal once they returned to New York.

Rico wasn't the only one acting weird. No, Skipper was too, though not as much as Rico. Private didn't know what exactly was up with Skipper, but he knew there was something. Maybe Skipper just had a lot on his mind, and was keeping it all to himself, as he often did. Private both admired and hated this about Skipper.

It wasn't just the fact that his friends were acting a little strange that bothered Private, but also because Kowalski wasn't there. Yes, like Rico, Private was saddened by the fact that Kowalski probably wasn't going to be around anymore. He was happy for him, of course, but it just wouldn't be the same without Kowalski around all the time.

With Kowalski leaving, and Skipper and Rico closing in on themselves, it seemed like the four of them were growing apart. Private really hoped that this was just a temporary, that things would go back to normal soon. If it didn't...Private didn't even want to think about it. He didn't want their team to fall apart.

Private tried not to worry himself too much though. It had only been a few days. Skipper and Rico would go back to acting like themselves soon, once they'd adjusted to staying here. And if they didn't, well, then they probably would when they returned to New York City in a couple of weeks.

Since he wasn't able to be around his friends as much, Private spent quite a bit of time by himself. He knew that he could just hang out with Marlene or Julien, but it just wasn't the same. So he instead just sat in the kitchen, thinking.

It was here that Private realized just how close he had become to Skipper, Kowalski and Rico. The three of them were his teammates. His best friends.

His _brothers. _

Skipper, Kowalski and Rico had become like his second family. In fact, whenever he was around one of them, Private found that he didn't feel homesick at all, because, well, he was home.

Of course, since Private hadn't been around his friends for a while, that feeling of homesickness came back. All he wanted was for the four of them to be a team again, together. He wanted things to be like they were before. But things _were _different, and Private hated how there was nothing he could do about it.

Private sighed. He reached into his pocket and took out a small picture which he carried around with him everywhere. It was a picture of his parents and uncle. Private had been so young when his parents had died, he barely remembered them. Most everything he knew about them was because of stories Uncle Nigel used to tell him.

Private always missed his parents, but it was times like this that he missed them more than ever. He just felt so confused. Lost. He wished they were still around, to give him parental guidance. To reassure him that everything was going to be fine. Mostly though, he wanted them to just be there.

But they couldn't, and never would be able to.

Private whimpered and clutched the picture tighter. Why did his parents have to die? It just wasn't fair. Private knew that life wasn't fair, not really, but still, couldn't his life be unfair in a different way other than his parents' dying?

Whattsa matter with you?" A voice from beside him said, Private jumped, startled. He turned to see Short Fuse watching him.

"Oh, nothing, I'm just, uh...thinking." Private laughed nervously as he brushed his hands over his eyes to hide the fact that he had almost begun crying. Short Fuse narrowed his eyes at Private. He could tell that the kid was lying. Short Fuse was about to ask, more forcefully, what was wrong, when he noticed what Private was holding in his hands.

Short Fuse's eyes widened. One of the people in the picture was...But no, it was impossible. It couldn't be. Could it? Maybe if he got a better look, he'd be able to tell for sure.

Short Fuse snatched the picture out of Private's hands, despite the boy's protests. Short Fuse looked carefully at the photo for a moment before deciding that his initial suspicion had been correct. He had to show this to his boss.

"Short Fuse, wait, that's mine!" Private cried out when the teenager ran off with his picture. "Give it back!" Private ran after Short Fuse. Even when Short Fuse ran into the area of the house that Classified had forbidden anyone from entering, Private still followed. He had to get his picture back, it was important to him.

The two of them ran into a room where it seemed that Classified, Eva, and Corporal were working. The three adults looked curiously at the boys. Classified groaned when he recognized Private, who wasn't supposed to be back there.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Classified asked.

Private stepped forward. "I was just trying to get my picture back." Classified looked and saw that Short Fuse was holding a photo in his hands. Private's picture. Classified closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He did not have time to deal with this right now!

"Short Fuse, why did you take the boy's picture?" Classified asked irritably, though he was curious. Short Fuse could be brash, and often acted without thinking things through all the way, but he wasn't a thief.

"Sorry, boss, but you have to see this." Short Fuse held up the picture to show Classified and the others. Classified rolled his eyes and grabbed the picture with the intention of giving it back to Private, but froze when he took a look at it.

"Is that-?" Classified trailed off as he looked intently at the picture. After a moment he moved his gaze from the picture to Private. "Do you know who is in this photograph?"

Private blinked. What kind of question was that? Of course he knew. It was his photograph, wasn't it? "It's just a picture of my parents." Private answered, his face going red.

Classified's eyes softened slightly. "But it's not just a picture of your parents." Classified knelt down at Private's level and pointed to the other person in the photo. "Do you know who this is?

"Well, yeah, that's my uncle." Private answered. Classified and the others looked at him in shock, as if they couldn't believe it.

"Do you mean to tell me that this man is your uncle?" Classified particularly in a state of disbelief.

"Yes, Uncle Nigel is my father's brother." Private said. He looked at them curiously, wondering how they knew about his uncle. Private's mind was racing. These guys were very secretive about their work, and, sometimes, so was Uncle Nigel. Then there was the fact that most of the people that Uncle Nigel knew, or that knew of Nigel, were spies. Did that mean…

"Are you guys spies?" Private asked. He supposed it was safe to ask. They seemed like good people. And, even if Private was wrong and they weren't spies, well, he was just a kid, so they'd probably think he was playing an imaginative game and ignore him.

Classified crossed his arms. "I suppose it is safe to assume that you are aware of your uncle's work with C.E.N.T.R.A.L."

Private nodded. "But, how do you know about my uncle?" Private asked cautiously.

Short Fuse chuckled. "Are you kidding? There isn't an agent or spy around who doesn't know who he is. He's a legend."

"Does this mean that you work for C.E.N.T.R.A.L. too?" Private asked.

Classified nodded. "We are The North Wind, which is a break off group of C.E.N.T.R.A.L."

"Wow." Private was amazed, despite his uncle's job, Private hadn't met many actual secret agents before. Though, he was a little confused about one thing. "Aren't you all a little, well, young to be secret agents?" Short Fuse was still just a kid, after all. Even Classified, Eva, and Corporal, who were all adults, seemed a little young on spy standards.

"That is why The North Wind is a break off group." Eva explained. "It is for younger or less experienced agents. When one has reached the age of twenty five, they can become a real agent. Until then, they are in The North Wind."

"So, it's like spy training?" Private asked.

Classified winced. "Something like that. But the work that we do is very real." He seemed annoyed that he couldn't be an actual agent for a few more years.

"What kind of work are you doing now?" Private asked. He had always been curious about this spy business. Classified eyed him briefly before deciding that he could be trusted with the specifics.

"Do you know what your uncle is working on now?" Classified asked.

Um, he's helping to catch one of C.E.N.T.R.A.L.'s most dangerous enemies." Private said.

"Precisely." Classified said. "This man that they're after, he has many allies. Our job is to keep an eye on some of those allies, to keep them from helping him."

"That is what all the locks and stuff are for." Corporal explained. Private's eyes widened. So they really were trying to keep people in.

"You mean to say that Savio, Hans, and Clemson are working with him?" Private asked. He could barely believe it. Sure, they seemed pretty dangerous, but they were still kids. How dangerous could they be?

"Trust me, they are more dangerous than they seem." Classified said. He gestured to a large computer monitor behind him. He nodded at Eva, who was sitting at the computer. She nodded back, pushed a few buttons, and opened up a file that seemed to be all about Clemson.

For example, this guy here, Clemson, he is from a small kingdom on a remote island. His family has lived there for generations, and has always been loyal to the royal family. Or so everybody thought. Then, a few years ago, they struck. Clemson's family killed the king and queen, to try to take the crown for themselves."

"Did the entire royal family die?" Private gulped. He didn't think he liked this story much.

"No, the heir was able to get away, along with two of his cousins." Eva answered.

"Which you would have realized if you would bother putting two and two together." Short Fuse scoffed. Private blinked at him, not understand. Short Fuse rolled his eyes. "You know, there's a reason why those friends of yours, Julien, Maurice, and Mort, don't like Clemson."

Oh. So that was why Maurice didn't trust Clemson at all. Because he might try to steal Julien's place as heir. Now it made sense. But, if the story was true, then that meant that Julien's parents had been killed. Murdered. That must've been so sad for Julien, and scary too. Private just couldn't believe that anybody, let alone a whole family, would do something like that.

"What about the others, though?" Private asked. Surely Savio and Hans hadn't done something as bad as that. Eva closed Clemson's file and opened another, Hans'.

"Hans was involved in an incident that nearly destroyed Copenhagen." Classified said. "An incident that your friend, Skipper, also had a hand in."

"Skippah?" Private blinked at the news. Why would Skipper have anything to do with the near destruction of a city? Private was curious, but decided not to question Classified about it. Sure, Private wanted to learn more, but he wanted to hear it from Skipper, not read it in some stupid file on the computer.

"Well, what about Savio?" Private asked as a way to get them moving away from talking about Hans and Skipper.

"Actually, I think it best if we keep this file 'low profile' for a bit." Eva answered before Classified could say anything.

"Why? What did he do?" Now Private was even more curious than before.

"Savio is an escape artist." Eva answered simply.

"But that's not why he's dangerous." Classified said. Eva shot him a cold look, which he just ignored. "Savio is a pedophile. _That _is why he is dangerous."

"Wh-what's a pedophile?" Private asked uncertainly. It didn't exactly sound like something pleasant.

"It's not something you should know about." Eva said. "You're just too young. Just know that Savio is not the kind of person you want to be around. Ever. Understood?"

"Yes." Private said reluctantly. He really hated it when people played the 'you're too young' card. He may be a kid, but that didn't mean he couldn't take care of himself, or help his friends. Even if he hadn't been doing very well with that recently.

But as much as Private hated being talked down too, he knew that Eva was probably right. If Savio was dangerous, and most likely so were Hans and Clemson. Especially if they were helping _that _man.

Wait a second. That man had so much power and influence, and had a lot of people working under him, so, what was so special about these three? They were just kids. Why would they be involved with that man at all?

"Are you sure Savio, Hans, and Clemson would help him?" Private asked.

"Almost positive." Classified said confidently.

"But how?" Private asked. Classified opened his mouth to answer, then closed it a second later.

"Well, uh, that is strictly need-to-know information." Classified said. His face became slightly red, and Private could tell that he was hiding something.

"Weren't those things you told me earlier also need-to-know information?" Private pointed out.

"I...you don't…" Classified huffed in frustration. "Enough with these ridiculous questions already. Me and my team have quite a lot of work to do. We don't have the time for this. So why don't you just go run off and play?"

"There's nothing to do here." Private said as he tried to hide a grin. Classified got riled up quite easily, didn't he?

"You could always go for a walk." Corporal suggested. "Those are always nice."

Private blinked at the suggestion. Was Corporal being serious? Private had thought that none of them were allowed to leave.

"I'm allowed to go out?" Private asked Classified.

"Yes, by all means, leave." Classified said. Anything to get Private out of his hair. "You are free to do what you like. All of our security measures are for Savio, Hans, and Clemson. Though, if you are planning on going out, I am going to have to ask you to wear this." Classified held up a plain metal bracelet.

"This is not just an ordinary bracelet." Classified said smugly. He showed Private the inside of the bracelet, which had a small red flashing light. "What you're looking at is a tracking device. While you're wearing that, we'll be able to find your exactly location from here. If you run into any trouble, just push this small button on the side, and we will come to help as quick as we can."

Classified may have been annoyed with Private, but that didn't mean that he was about to let the kid go wandering around the city by himself without some way of keeping an eye on him. Hoboken could be a dangerous city, especially for a boy who didn't know his way around.

"I'll remember that." Private said. He accepted the bracelet and slid it on his wrist. It felt oddly comfortable, and light.

"Oh, and here's your picture back." Private beamed when he finally had the photograph back in his hands. He didn't like not having it on him.

"Thank you." Private said cheerfully. He then left them to their work and returned to the kitchen. Corporal was right, a walk did sound like a pretty good idea. But Private didn't know how long he'd be out for, and it was nearing lunch time, so he decided to bring some food with him. Private quickly made a tuna fish sandwich and grabbed some crackers and a bottle of water. He put the stuff in a bag, and went on his way.

Private was very cautious when he first began his walk. With everything that he had heard from Skipper about Hoboken, and the fact that Classified had given him a bracelet in case of an emergency, Private was nervous about what kind of troubles he may face while on his walk.

It didn't take long for Private to change his mind though. It was a very nice day out, sunny, but not too hot. The longer he was out for, the more Private was sure that there was no danger for him out here…

Well, except for those guys that were following him. Private had noticed them a few minutes ago, and had become increasingly more nervous the closer they got to him. His innocent mind wanted to believe that they just happened to be going in the same direction as him. But he knew that wasn't so, they were definitely following him, and watching him as well.

A few minutes later, when the guys were way too close for comfort, Private knew that he had to get away. Fast. Private made a run for it. He ran as fast as he could, and instinctively could tell that they were still chasing after him. Unfortunately, they were older and faster than he was, and were gaining quickly.

Private turned down a corner and continued running, though he was now looking for a place to hide. He wasn't having any luck though. Private was beginning to think that maybe he ought to push the button on his bracelet when, suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed him, dragging him into an alleyway. Private tried calling out for help, but whoever had grabbed him covered his mouth.

"Don't make a sound, alright? Or else we'll be found." They said urgently. Private nodded. He felt kind of freaked out still, but he also didn't want to be found by those guys who had been following him. The two of them leaned against the wall of a building and kept as still and quiet as they could. A minute later, the guys who had been chasing Private ran right past the alleyway, without noticing them.

"That was way too close." The person who had grabbed Private sighed in relief. Now that they were safe, Private was released. He turned to look at who had grabbed him. It was a skinny teenage boy with very dirty blond hair. Private was intrigued to see that his right eye was blue, while the right one was green. The teenager looked pretty roughed up around the edges.

"Thank you for helping me, uh…" Private trailed off.

"My name is Max." The teenager said. "And you're lucky I was around to help you. What the heck were you thinking, wandering these streets by yourself? Don't you know that this is Dave's territory?"

"I was just...wait, who is Dave?" Private asked.

"You don't know who Dave is?" Max looked at Private as if he were crazy. "I guess you don't live anywhere around here, do you?"

"No, I'm just staying here for a few weeks, than going back to New York City." Private said.

"You're from New York?" Max asked eagerly.

"Actually, I'm from England, but I'm staying at a foster home in New York." Private clarified.

"Oh, you're a foster kid." Max nodded his head. "Yep, that explains why those goons were after you. Dave _hates_ foster kids. Especially the cute ones."

"And who, exactly, is Dave?" Private asked again.

"He's the leader of the local street gang, and he likes to stir up all sorts of trouble." Max said. "Trust me, it's best if you stay away from them." Private was really getting tired of being told to stay away from people all the time.

"But, why does Dave hate foster kids?" Private asked.

"My best guess is that he's jealous or something." Max shrugged. "I mean, lots of street kids are envious of foster kids, because they have somewhere to stay, while we're stuck fending for ourselves in the streets."

"'We'? Max, are you a street kid?" Private asked.

"Yep." Max confirmed. When Private began to look sorry for him, Max shook his head. "Hey, it's not all bad. I get to go wherever I want, and there's actually plenty of places to find shelter, if you know where to look."

Max frowned and put a hand on his stomach, which was grumbling loudly. "Alright, so the food's not always plentiful. And I could definitely do without all the social workers crawling around, waiting to drag me off to some awful foster home. Especially that Officer X guy." Max shuddered. "Yeesh, that guy gives me the creeps. He's the reason that I left New York in the first place. I'm telling you, he has no place working anywhere near kids." Private had seen the way that Officer X dealt with Rico, and he wholeheartedly agreed.

"Max, are you hungry?" Private asked.

"Are you kiddin'? I'm always hungry." Max chuckled.

"In that case, feel free to help yourself." Private said. He handed his backpack, which held his lunch inside, to Max.

"I…" Max didn't know what to say when he saw the food. He hadn't eaten anything all day, and had only found some scraps the night before. He was starving. And now this random kid was just handing him a meal, just like that?

"Think of it as payment for helping me earlier." Private said cheerfully. "And you can keep the bag too. I can just get a new one later."

"Gee, thanks, kid." Max smiled gratefully. "You know, if this is what happens when you help people, I really gotta start saving people more often."

"It's a good practice to get into." Private grinned "Well, I suppose I'd better be getting back soon."

"Try not to run into anymore of Dave's goons while you're out in the streets." Max advised.

"I'll be more carefully this time." Private said. "Good luck, Max." Private waved goodbye to his new friend before heading off, back to his temporary residence.

**So, uh, not the best chapter ending, but hey, it's getting late, I want to go to bed, but I really wanted to finish this chapter, because it was just taking too long**

**Anyways, as you can tell, I brought in Moon-Cat, aka, Max. I've always liked him, so decided to throw him in there. And, yeah, Dave was mentioned too. I was originally planning in actually introducing Dave, but I couldn't figure out how, so we'll just have to settle for him just being mentioned...for now.**

**Now, about Savio. When I was first planning this, I was wondering how I was going to humanize a snake that likes to eat small mammals. I didn't really want to go for making him a cannibal, so I interpreted things a bit and made him a different type of predator. If anybody doesn't like how I made Savio a pedophile, that's just fine. This is just my interpretation. If you want, feel free to read him as a cannibal, or however you want. I'm just writing him as I see him. A complete and total creep.**


	17. Staying with the Brine's

**Hello again readers. So, you know how last chapter I just mentioned Dave? Well, not to worry, I will actually bring him into the story...later. But not this chapter. I repeat, Dave is not in this chapter. So please, do not get confused by the choices that I make. Just know that I do know what I'm doing.**

Kowalski had been a foster child for nearly ten years. During that time, he had had to do a lot of adapting, because his circumstances, his location, the people he was around, were always changing. Kowalski had grown used to it, but adapting between staying at a foster home and an _actual _home? That was a big change!

Even though it was a big change, Kowalski could see himself getting used to it, simply because it was something that he _could _get used to. Kowalski could tell, even after only a week and a half, that the living circumstances were much more stable than those in any foster home he'd ever been in.

One reason for the stability was that both Dr. Brine and his wife, the people who were wanting to adopt him, had steady jobs. Dr. Derek Brine worked as a mechanical engineer. His wife, Debbie, who also had the title of Dr. Brine, was an esteemed marine biologist. With both of them having decent paying jobs, Kowalski couldn't see financial issues being a problem. And often, financial issues were a _huge _problem in foster homes. Or, at least in the ones that Kowalski had been in.

There were other reasons why it was a more stable living situation, but the most important was that it just _felt_ more secure. Kowalski knew that just because he wasn't staying in a foster home anymore didn't mean that things couldn't go wrong. Life was unpredictable, and accidents happened. But still, even with the small amount of time Kowalski had been there, he felt more sure. More safe. Safer than he had in a long time.

As safe as he felt though, Kowalski couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Not for him, things couldn't be any better for him with the Brine's. No, Kowalski felt, no, he _knew _that something was wrong with his friends.

How did he know? Well, because Private had told him. Every single day since leaving, Kowalski had called Private, or the boy had called him. Either way, they spoke. And every time, Private told him the same thing. That something was wrong, and the others were acting weird, and Private was worried.

At first, Kowalski had told Private that he was just imagining things. That nothing was wrong. Kowalski's tune changed when he spoke to Skipper himself. It was a normal conversation, except that Skipper seemed distracted, and irritated, and, strangely, more paranoid than usual… Just like Private had said he was.

If it was just Skipper, Kowalski still wouldn't think too much of it. Kowalski would be concerned, sure, but put it off as just a temporary thing. Skipper had gotten like this before, and had always snapped out of it sooner or later.

No, it wasn't Skipper Kowalski was worried about. It was Rico.

Every day, Kowalski tried to call Rico, but he never answered. Not once. Kowalski's initial thought was that Rico was ignoring his calls because he was still mad at him for leaving. But if what Private said was true, Kowalski wasn't the only one that Rico was giving the cold shoulder. Apparently, he was avoiding everybody.

Kowalski did not like this news at all. He'd thought that Rico had been done with the whole loner thing. He knew that Rico didn't like to be by himself. So then, why was he avoiding his friends? Kowalski wanted answers. That's why he continued trying to call Rico, to find out what was going on with him, and why he grew increasingly frustrated when Rico never answered his stupid phone.

To be fair, Rico wasn't _entirely _keeping out of contact with Kowalski. What _was _unfair was the way that Rico contacted Kowalski. For the past week, Kowalski woke up every morning to find a new text from Rico sent to him in the dead hours of the night before.

A text!

Why the heck would Rico send him a text?! Didn't he know that Kowalski couldn't read?...Wait a second. Had Kowalski actually told Rico that he couldn't read? Kowalski couldn't remember if he had. Either way, Kowalski hadn't couldn't read Rico's texts. He couldn't even tell if they were written in English, or Spanish, or gibberish!

Whichever language it was written in, Kowalski couldn't understand a word of it. He so desperately wanted to though, to answer the questions going through his mind. Like, was Rico okay? Why was he ignoring everyone? Why wasn't he answering his calls? Why did Rico text him every morning? Why didn't Rico just call him himself?

What the heck was going on?

All of these questions and concerns served as motivation for Kowalski's latest invention idea. To sum it up briefly, he planned on adding a function to his phone that would read texts out loud to him. Then he'd finally know what the messages were saying! Kowalski soon got to work, tinkering with his phone.

Of course, Kowalski was always careful working on his new inventions, but this time, he was extra careful. After all, if things happened to go wrong, and his phone, say, exploded, then not only would Kowalski no longer have a cell phone, but he'd lose all of Rico's texts. No, Kowalski couldn't afford any mishaps this time. He had to get this invention right, the first time.

So Kowalski locked himself in his room for hours on end, working on perfecting his plans and ideas. He needed to get the theories just right before he would even think about messing around with his phone. And to get those theories and ideas just right, he would need total concentration. Absolutely no distractions.

"Kowalski, what are you doing?" A small voice asked. Kowalski yelped and looked to his side to see a young girl with short brown hair looking at him with wide, wonder filled eyes.

"Karen, what are you doing here?" Kowalski asked.

"I need help with my homework, I don't get how to do the math." Karen said.

"You didn't happen to bring your homework in here with you, did you?" Kowalski asked. Karen smiled sheepishly and shook her head. Kowalski sighed, stood up, and followed the small girl to her bedroom.

Karen was the Brine's daughter that they had adopted about a year before, and Kowalski thought she was absolutely adorable. She was energetic, and often couldn't sit still for more than a minute or two. So, even though she was only in the first grade, school was a bit of a challenge for her, and she often didn't understand things when her teacher explained it. Most every day, she would go to Kowalski to get him to re-explain it to her. For whatever reason, she always understood things better the way that Kowalski said it.

And even though it was a distraction, and Kowalski had his own ideas that he had to think through, he was actually more than happy to help Karen understand her math homework. She was just such a sweet girl, and Kowalski couldn't bring himself to say no to her. And besides, while Kowalski may not have been very good at reading, he was certainly good with numbers and could do math quite well. Definitely well enough to explain it in a way that a six year old like Karen would understand.

Once they got to Karen's room, the girl went to the pile of her school supplies that was lying in the middle of the floor. She grabbed one of the papers and handed it to Kowalski. He looked it over briefly and immediately saw that it was, indeed, very simple math. It shouldn't take too long to show Karen how to do it.

Indeed, less than five minutes later, his explanation was finished and Karen was lying contently on the ground, scribbling out the answers. Kowalski decided to remain in the room for a few minutes, in case Karen needed any more help. As he waited, he looked around at her room. The first thought that struck his mind when he saw her room was that Private would probably like it a lot.

Her room was very pink, with flowers and rainbows everywhere. She had lots of plush toys lying around, including a Lunacorn plushie that was identical to the one that Private himself had. Despite her amount of plushies, it wasn't her largest collection. No, that honor went to her snow globes.

Kowalski thought it strange that such a hyper young girl would have such an impressive collection of fragile snow globes, all of them in perfect condition. Yes, the girl loved snow globes. She loved looking at the figures inside. She loved to shake up the globes and watch the 'snow' swirl all over the place, though she never shook them too hard. The last thing that she wanted was for one of her precious globes to break, so she was always careful.

"Kowalski, I'm done." The girl said proudly, which brought Kowalski's attention away from admiring her collection.

"Great. Mind if I look it over a bit?" Kowalski asked. Karen nodded eagerly and practically shoved the paper into Kowalski's outstretched hand. It took little more than a glance to check over the answers.

"Well, everything's looking in order here. You did a good job." Kowalski said as he handed the homework back to Karen. She had gotten all the answers right. Of course, Kowalski had known that she would. She was a smart kid, and once she understood something, she understood it.

"Yay! Thank you." The girl wrapped her arms around Kowalski's legs in an awkward type of hug. "You're really nice, Kowalski. I'll be sad when you leave."

"Whoa, wait, leave? Why would I be leaving? Did your parents say something?" Now Kowalski was worried. Did the Brine's decide they didn't want him anymore?

Karen frowned slightly. "No, mommy and daddy like having you here. They won't make you leave." Kowalski breathed a sigh of relief, until he heard Karen's next words.

"But you won't want to stay here."

"Won't want to stay here? What do you mean? I love it here." Kowalski exclaimed.

"Yeah, but you like it somewhere else better." Karen said plainly.

"I...What?" Now Kowalski was just confused. What was Karen saying? Here, he could have a real home, an actual family. Why would he rather be somewhere else? Karen just didn't know what she was talking about. After all, she was just a little kid.

"Kowalski, right are you doing in here?" A voice said. Kowalski and Karen turned to see Dr. Brine standing in the doorway, watching them with an amused expression on his face. Karen squealed when she saw her dad and ran to give him a big hug...well, as big a hug as such a small girl could give.

"I was just helping Karen with some schoolwork." Kowalski said.

"I thought you were busy with that new idea of yours." Dr. Brine said. "I hope Karen didn't interrupt you.

"Not at all, helping her only took a few minutes. No big deal." Kowalski insisted. "Though I really should get back to it now."

"Yes, we wouldn't want to keep you from your ideas for too long." Dr. Brine chuckled. "Just try not to work yourself too hard, alright?"

Kowalski agreed and made his way back to his room. He was intent on putting some last finishing touches on his plans, and then he'd be ready to actually make the new function for his phone. An hour later, when Kowalski was finally satisfied with his plans, he reached for his phone before freezing.

Dr. Brine's words rang through Kowalski's head, about not working himself too hard. He knew that Dr. Brine was just concerned, then Kowalski realized just how long he had spent on this idea. The the past week, the majority of his hours had been spent in solitude. While this was sometimes normal behavior for Kowalski, he knew it wasn't right.

The whole point of him staying with the Brine's for a month was so that they could get to know him, and he them. And it would be rather difficult to get to know each other if he was always hiding away in his room.

Kowalski decided then and there that it would probably be best if he put a hold on his invention. That he no longer stay in his room by himself for hours on end. With a sigh, Kowalski put his phone on his desk. He'd be back to work on it later, but for now, maybe it would be better to leave things alone. After all, once he started actually working on his phone, he wouldn't put it down until he was done. And he had no idea how long that would take.

He wasn't giving up, he was just taking a break.

With that thought in mind, Kowalski put his plans and notes in his desk drawer for safekeeping. He'd come back to them later, but for now, he had other stuff to do. With a last glance at his stuff, Kowalski walked out of his room and shut the door behind him.

It would be difficult, to put his project on hold like this. Kowalski was still worried and curious about Rico's texts, but he knew that if there even was a problem, Skipper would handle it, like he always did.

Things would end up fine.

**Well? Did I confuse you? If not, well, I'm glad. My goal, after all, is not to be confusing.**

**I enjoyed writing this chapter though, because Kowalski's an interesting guy, and Karen is adorable.**


	18. Trust Issues and a New Brother

**Well, I've done a chapter centering around Skipper, Private, and Kowalski, so I think it's time to bring Rico back into the spotlight. It's been awhile since we've had a chapter about him, right? Right.**

It was the middle of the night, a time when most people would be fast asleep. Despite the time though, Rico was still wide awake, with no plans of going to sleep any time that night. He actually hadn't slept much these past two weeks. After all, he had the job of keeping the others safe from Savio. And even though Savio himself was sleeping at the moment, who knew how long that would last? At any moment, Savio could wake up and be in one of his moods, and Rico couldn't possibly stop him if he was asleep, now could he?

Though, if Rico was honest with himself, keeping an eye on Savio was not his only, or even main reason for staying awake. Rico just didn't want to deal with what he'd be sure to encounter if he fell asleep.

Nightmares.

It wasn't fair. Rico had ran away from that foster home to get away from it, so why wouldn't it leave him alone. Rico wanted nothing more than to forget about it, or even just move on. He'd been doing a pretty good job at avoiding his past, until, of course, now, when he just had to run into the others again.

See, Rico hadn't been the only foster kid in that stupid home, there had been three others. Savio, Clemson, and Hans had all been there too, though none of them had been punished the way that Rico had. Because they had been more than happy to do as they were told, and Rico hadn't.

Rico shuddered. Great, now he was thinking about it again. This was why he hated being anywhere near Savio, Clemson, and Hans, because than he began thinking about the last foster home they'd been in, and those were not pleasant memories. He didn't want to think about his past, and yet, these past few weeks it was the only thing on his mind. It was driving him crazy.

He had to get his mind on something else.

Rico sighed and took his phone out of his pocket to check his texts. Maybe...maybe Kowalski had answered him back today, though, if the past two weeks were anything to go by, it wasn't very likely. Still, there was at least a chance. With low hopes, Rico checked his text messages to see...nothing. Kowalski hadn't answered his texts...again.

Rico glared at his phone and turned it off. Honestly, he had no idea why he was even trying anymore. It was clear that Kowalski wasn't going to answer any of his messages, but, why not? Rico wasn't asking for much. Literally, the only thing any of his texts said was that he wanted to talk.

Was Kowalski just that set on not talking to Rico? But, no, that wasn't right. If that were the case, then why would Kowalski be calling him every day? Surely Kowalski wouldn't be calling for the sole purpose of telling Rico that he didn't want to talk to him...Right?

Of course right. What was Rico even doing, doubting Kowalski like that. Kowalski was his friend, he had said they were still friends, even if Kowalski wasn't there...but, how could people be friends if they never talked to each other?

Alright, so maybe there was some crazy, legitimate reason why Kowalski couldn't answer Rico's texts. Like how Rico couldn't answer Kowalski's calls because during the day Rico's attention was solely on Savio, and he couldn't have any distractions.

Still, talking to each other shouldn't be this hard, right?

See, this was exactly why Rico prefered to be a loner. Sure, it was lonely to be by himself. But if there was one thing that Rico had learned in his life, it was that sometimes it was better to be by yourself. Because if you weren't around anybody, then nobody would be able to hurt you...or ignore you.

Rico groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. He had wanted to think about something other than his old foster home so he'd feel better, not worse. Maybe he should leave the thinking to Kowalski, who always looked so peaceful when focused on his thoughts. Rico, on the other hand, couldn't handle thinking for five minutes without ending up with a major headache and a clenching feeling in his chest.

Maybe some fresh air would help. Rico got up from his bed and, as slowly and quietly as he could, so as to not wake up his roommates who were most likely still asleep, left the room. Once he was out in the hallway, Rico didn't have to tread as carefully as he did in the room. Just as long as he wasn't too loud, he should be fine.

Rico made his way down the hallway, heading toward the roof. There was no light to guide his way, but Rico didn't mind. He had always been very comfortable in the dark, and was quite good at making his way through it. It wasn't long before he reached his destination.

The roof was normal enough, except for the fact that it was surrounded by a chain link fence and ceiling. So the roof resembled a cage, keeping anybody from leaving. When Rico had first seen the roof, he had thought that Classified was really, _really _paranoid, maybe even more so than Skipper was...maybe. Rico didn't like feeling trapped, but honestly, he didn't feel anymore like a prisoner up here than he did in the house, with all the security and locks. So he didn't mind it so much.

Even with the fence, Rico still felt a calming sense of freedom up here, because it was in the open air. Rico hated being cooped up for too long, it made him feel anxious, on edge. Up here though, Rico felt almost, well, normal.

"Wow, I'm surprised to be seeing you up here." Rico jumped at the voice and turned to see Hans staring at him with an amused expression on his face.

"Wha' are 'oo doin' up 'ere? Rico growled, immediately suspicious.

"You know, it isn't a crime to be up on the roof in the middle of the night," Hans said. "If it was, then you would be in trouble too, wouldn't you?" Rico glared at Hans.

"Wha' 'oo wan'?" Rico asked. Hans looked mildly offended.

"And who said that I wanted something at all?" Hans asked. "How do you know I didn't just come up here for the same reason you did, to get some fresh air, and have a few Savio free minutes."

Rico blinked in shock. "'oo don' like Savio?"

"Seriously? I am not liking that creep any more than you are. He's such a snake." Hans scowled, but then began chuckling when he saw Rico's surprised face. "What? Were you thinking that me and him were BFF's?"

"I...no." Rico said. He hadn't thought that they were best friends, or even friends at all. But Rico had thought that they were at least allies, or something like that. And who knew, maybe they were, and Hans was just lying.

Hans seemed to know what Rico was thinking, because he narrowed his eyes. "You don't trust me, do you?"

"I don' trus' any'un." Rico looked at the ground. He wanted to trust people, and he tried to...but he just couldn't. He didn't even trust any of his friends fully, so why should he trust Hans?

Hans raised an eyebrow. "Really? And here I thought you ignored all the rules that Deilf gave us."

Rico growled and clenched his fists. Gosh, did Hans know how to get under his skin. '_Trust no one,' _was one of the many, many rules that their old foster father, if you could even call him that, had. It wasn't the type of rule you'd find in your everyday house, but Francis Deilf was not your ordinary man. He was evil.

And no, Rico did not just think that because Deilf had hurt him. The man really was evil. He had a desire to rule the world, and had many vicious and vengeful plots and schemes to accomplish his goal. Unfortunately, at least one of those plots, for whatever reason, involved Savio, Clemson, Hans and Rico.

Somehow, Deilf knew about the four boys' pasts, and he had brought them into his home. There, he trained them, taught them to be hateful and evil like he was. He wanted to hone their skills, their wicked potential that he claimed he saw in them.

Rico, of course, wanted nothing to do with this whole 'evil business' that Deilf had going. Sure, Rico had a love for explosives and violence, and sometimes lost control, which was what had caught Deilf's eye about him in the first place, but that did _not _mean that Rico was evil. And he refused to become so.

So Rico defied Deilf, almost every single day. And he was always punished for it, severely. But no matter how hurt or scared Rico had been, he had been infinitely times more stubborn. Even when he knew that he would get hurt, Rico still disobeyed him. Because he wasn't going to let himself become evil...And he wasn't going to give Deilf the satisfaction of breaking him into submission.

Rico never went along with Deilf's plans, but after two years at that place, he hadn't left unscathed. By the time he got the guts to leave he was terribly scarred. And not just physical scars either, though he had plenty of those, the most prominent being the one on his face. No, Rico was also mentally and emotionally scarred, probably for life. Rico was a tough kid, but after so long of facing seemingly endless torture, something inside of him had broken.

Hans watched Rico and became more annoyed with every passing second. Rico wasn't doing anything, just looking out at the city with a painful look in his eyes. Hans had really grown tired of this side of Rico, which he'd been seeing a lot of lately, where he just clammed up and became lost in his memories.

He knew what Rico was doing while he just stood there silently. He was sulking and feeling sorry for himself. Hans understood the feeling of feeling sorry for himself, as it happened to him sometimes too. But this had been going on almost nonstop for two weeks, and it was getting old.

"You know, it's rather boring, watching you throw yourself a constant pity party." Hans remarked. Rico turned and glared at him, but Hans was unfazed. "I get that Deilf hurt you, but really, he punished all of us. The only reason that you were his favorite victim was because you were idiotic enough to continue standing up to him, which was either incredibly stupid...or incredibly brave."

Rico blinked. Had Hans just called him an idiot and kinda complimented him at the same time? Rico had a hard time wrapping his head around how that worked, so he instead focussed on what Hans had said before that.

"'oo go' 'urt 'oo?" Rico asked.

"Like I said, we all did. What, did you think that you were the only one that didn't live up to the expectations of a madman?" Hans raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I can't count the number of times that I got hurt because, while I may have been quite good at combat, I'm not easily motivated unless Skipper is involved. I even have a couple of scars myself." Hans lifted his bangs to show Rico a large scar on his forehead that looked like it had hurt a lot when he'd first gotten it.

"And remember how Clemson was always getting in trouble because he never shut his mouth. And he wasn't a very good fighter either." Hans said. "Even Savio was punished a time or two because he had different evil plans than Deilf did." Rico did vaguely remember all that. He just hadn't bothered to remember before because he didn't want to remember anything about that place, even though he could do nothing to stop the memories from coming back.

Maybe...maybe Rico shouldn't block out all the memories of that place anymore. After all, not all of it was bad. Most of it was, but Rico remembered that he and Hans had kinda sorta been friends there. Or, at least, Hans was the one that Rico had gotten along with most. And whenever Deilf had them work on hand to hand combat, which was probably the only thing that Rico was more than happy to learn, he and Hans had always been sparring partners.

They hadn't exactly been good friends, and Rico didn't exactly trust him a lot. But he did trust Hans enough to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind for awhile. Whether Deilf was still around, and still wanted the boys to do his dirty work for him. Rico hadn't seen or heard from that man since he'd left, but there was always the nagging thought in the back of his mind that he hadn't seen the last of him. That Deilf would come back into his life again. And just running into the others like this seemed like a bad omen to Rico, that if something was going to happen, it was going to happen soon.

Hans looked at the ground. "Honestly, I don't know what Deilf is up to. But, sometimes I get the feeling that Savio knows something. But, uh, you know, it might be nothing." Hans added hastily when he saw Rico's panicked expression.

Rico frowned and clutched tightly at his necklace. He _prayed _that it was nothing. If Deilf really was back...no. Rico didn't even want to think about it. Hans watched Rico, looking slightly surprised. Not because of Rico's praying, no, he'd seen Rico do that loads of times before. But because Hans noticed that Rico's necklace wasn't just a chain.

"I see you got a new cross." Hans commented.

"Huh? Uh, yeah." Rico's face went red, not because he was embarrassed that Hans had seen him kind of praying. Hans knew all about his beliefs. Rico was more embarrassed and kinda ashamed because of what had happened with his old cross. It hadn't been lost, or stolen.

...he had thrown it out.

He had been going through a tough time, of course, every second that he'd been in that foster home had been a tough time for him. But there had been one period of time when he had just been so angry, at everything. At Deilf. At himself. At the world.

...At God.

Rico knew that it wasn't right, or fair, but he had just been so hurt and upset. He'd just been going through so much pain, and was looking for someone to blame for all the crap he had to deal with, and who better was there to blame than an all powerful, immortal being? After a while Rico of feeling like this Rico had snapped the cross pendent off his necklace and thrown it aside. He figured that if God was going to give up on him, then he might as well give up on God.

Fortunately, Rico hadn't been in that phase of hating God for very long. It wasn't long before he became just indifferent towards God. It did take some more time after that for Rico to fully regain the belief that God _did _care about him, though he felt exceedingly guilty that he had ever had any doubt...and that he sometimes still doubted it.

"'Walski ga'e i' 'oo me." Rico held up his necklace so Hans could get a better look.

"He's that friend of yours that's not here, right?" Hans asked. Rico nodded his head in confirmation. "You've become rather close to him, haven't you?"

"Uh huh. 'e's my bes' frien'. 'kipper an' Priva'e 'oo. my bro'ers." Rico frowned sadly and looked at the ground. "Bu', 'ey don'..." Rico trailed off, but Hans knew exactly what he was saying. That he loved his friends like they were his brothers, but they didn't feel the same way. Hans knew exactly how that felt, as his own twin brother seemed to hate his very existence.

Hans felt a familiar pang of jealousy when he heard that Rico thought of Skipper as a brother. Because Skipper wasn't his brother, he was _Hans' _brother. But, Hans tried to shove away these jealous feelings because the last time that he had let himself get jealous like this had ended with Skipper hating him.

Besides, Rico wasn't trying to steal Skipper from him, he just wanted to know that his brothers cared about him as much as he did them. And that was exactly was Hans wanted, so he could empathize. As long as Rico didn't try to steal Skipper from him, than maybe they could _share _Skipper as a brother.

"Hey, I just realized," Hans said, "You said that you see Skipper as a brother, yeah?" Rico nodded slowly. He had just barely said that, after all. "And Skipper is my twin. Which means that Skipper is brother to _both _of us...do you know what that means?"

"Uh...no." Rico tilted his head, confused.

"If we're both brothers with Skipper, wouldn't that make us brothers too?" Hans suggested. Rico grinned.

"Yeah, bro'ers." Rico chuckled. Hans didn't know what exactly was funny, but found Rico's chuckle contagious. It wasn't long before both boys found themselves laughing their heads off, at almost nothing at all. They were in such a good mood, which would have diminished in an instant if either boy had noticed the tall figure in the shadows, watching them.

**And let's end the chapter there, after all, who doesn't like to end their chapters on a random creepy note?**

**Oh my gosh, I've gotten out of the habit of Rico talk, and forgot just how hard him speaking is to write.**

**Speaking of hard stuff with this chapter, do you have any idea how much of a pain it was to come up with Francis Deilf's name? Seriously, I thought about it for so long, it was seriously annoying. But, I finally found a name for him, and am kinda happy with it.**


	19. Doubts of a Leader

**Hello readers, I hope you're ready, because things are going to start to become pretty serious pretty quickly...I know that things have been getting serious for a few chapters now, but I mean it, it's going to be picking up even more.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter, and I don't own Penguins of Madagascar….just thought I'd say that because I haven't for a while.**

Skipper hated the city of Hoboken, always had, and always would. Even though he had never set foot in the city until recently, he had still known that he had hated it. And spending three weeks there did little to change his mind. If anything, it had increased Skipper's hatred for the city.

Because, as if spending three weeks in Hoboken hadn't been bad enough, Hans had to be there too, didn't he? Why couldn't Skipper have just gone the rest of his life without ever seeing Hans again? It wasn't that he necessarily hated his brother, because he didn't. In fact, deep down, though he refused to admit it, Skipper did care about Hans. It was just so infuriating being around him, because Hans was a coward.

Hans had the terrible habit of doing crazy things that always got him, and, more often than not, everyone around him, in trouble. Skipper knew that Hans wasn't really trying to make trouble, it just happened...it _always _just happened. If Hans just got in trouble all the time, Skipper wouldn't be so upset, because honestly, he got in trouble all the time too. No, the problem was that whenever Hans was about to get caught, he ran off, leaving somebody else to take the fall.

_That's _why Skipper was so mad at Hans. Because the Dane had no responsibility, at all. And one couldn't go through life all the time just running from consequences, it wouldn't work. Once Hans learned that, Skipper would be willing to give Hans a second chance. Sure, Skipper would still be upset about what happened in Copenhagen, but even Skipper couldn't stay mad about it forever. He was only going to be mad until Hans decided to grow up, and no one knew when that would be.

But until then, Skipper just wanted to avoid Hans, which had been very, very hard to do when they're staying in the same house, with Hans wanting nothing more than to be near him all the time. Somehow though, he had achieved it. In his avoidance of Hans, Skipper found some pretty interesting things all over the house. The more Skipper saw, the more suspicion grew in his mind.

What the heck were Classified and his buddies up to?

If it was just the fact that there were extensive security measures keeping people from coming or going, Skipper wouldn't think much of it. After all, the three kids being kept here were all fairly dangerous and needed to be kept on a short leash. So Skipper understood, and kinda respected, all the locks and bolts Classified insisted on keeping on all the doors.

What Skipper didn't understand was why the guy had a secret room hidden in the area of the house that only Classified and his teammates were allowed in. He had found the secret room by accident...alright, so he'd been snooping around. Skipper had just been curious as to why Classified was so insistent on nobody being back there.

The unauthorized area of the house wasn't really anything special, except for maybe one room that had a large supercomputer in it, but even then, Skipper wasn't too impressed by it. So what if they had a fancy computer? That couldn't possibly be all they were hiding, Classified was much too secretive for it to be just a computer, so Skipper continued his search.

It hadn't taken him long to stumble upon a secret room which held a bunch of high tech stuff. Now this, this was more like what Skipper had been expecting. Something worth being kept secret. Skipper recognized grappling hooks and what he thought must've been jet packs. Most of the other stuff in the room, Skipper had no idea what they were or what they did, but he was pretty sure they weren't just fancy decoration. He didn't have to be a genius to know that many of the things in the room could be very dangerous.

Skipper didn't know why Classified and his team had a secret room full of potentially dangerous high tech weapons, but he had a few guesses. The top ones being that the four of them were either robots in disguise, or possibly aliens or something. Though the more likely answer was that Classified and his friends were secretly spies.

Oh, who did Skipper think he was kidding? Sure, it would be cool if Classified was a spy, but the chances of that being true were next to nothing. No, Skipper didn't honestly believe that he was a spy, he was just trying to think of some ridiculous explanation that would explain how Classified was so good at getting his team to follow him, without question. And how he could get creeps like Savio, Clemson, and Hans to toe the line while under his watch.

Skipper had a hard enough time keeping the kids in New York from not destroying each other and everything around them, though considering half their has got blown up, he wasn't very good at it. Classified, on the other hand, made it look so easy, getting the others to behave. True, Skipper did keep an eye on more kids than Classified did. But the three kids that Classified watched were barely more than criminals, which would probably make them more difficult to handle than kids who just liked to hit things. Skipper just didn't get how he did it.

Or how he kept his team so together. Seriously, Classified, Corporal, Eva and Shortfuse just worked so well, like a well oiled machine, which was why Skipper had considered the idea that they were actually robots. Meanwhile, his own team was falling apart, and Skipper had no idea why or how to stop it!

So Skipper grew resentful toward Classified, and a little jealous too. That a guy who wasn't much older than he was could be so good at the things that Skipper had the most problems with. And then Skipper became frustrated with himself because he wasn't supposed to be the jealous type. That was Hans' thing.

As much as he hated feeling jealous though, Skipper still felt that way anytime he so much as saw Classified. And as long as they were in Hoboken, where Classified was the one in charge, Skipper couldn't help but see the guy all the time, which wasn't fun.

Between trying to avoid both Classified and Hans, while, at the same time, trying to figure out what the two of them were up to. Because Skipper knew that they were up to something...though it was unlikely that they were both up to the same thing. Either way, Skipper did not exactly enjoy his stay in Hoboken and was beyond relieved when, after a little more than three weeks, the repairs were finished and he and his friends could finally return to New York.

His relief was short lived though. Sure, it was nice to be back in New York City, to not have to deal with Hans, or Classified, or any other Hoboken stuff. But if Skipper had known what would be waiting for him back in New York, he would have almost decided to stay in Hoboken...then again, it was Hoboken, so maybe not.

Apparently, while they'd been gone, some of the kids who had been able to stay in New York, such as Bada, Bing, and Joey, had gotten out of control. The three of them were easily angered and violent, which was not a fun combination to deal with. With some work, Skipper had been able to get a handle on them. They were still a problem sometimes, but for the most part, they listened to him, and he let them do what they wanted, within reason.

Unfortunately, with Skipper not being in New York for three weeks, Alice had been the only authoritative figure. Yeah, that was barely any better than having nobody keeping an eye on them at all. Needless to say, things got a little bit out of hand. With nobody around to keep the three of them from taking things too far, well...things went too far.

Nothing too drastic had happened, but Skipper could immediately tell that he would have his work cut out for him, getting everybody back into the order of things...yeah, this wasn't going to be fun.

And it wasn't, it was exhausting.

Nearly a week after returning to New York, Skipper was sitting at the table in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee, mentally preparing himself for the day. It was early in the morning, not even 6:00, so the house was quiet. He was the only one awake and about, but Skipper didn't mind it at all. The house had just been so chaotic this past week, that any quiet time he could get, he would take.

Skipper stifled a yawn and laid his head on the table for a minute. He was really, _really _tired, and his coffee was doing very little to help. It was really beginning to wear him down, working almost non-stop to get things back under control. And it wasn't just Bada, Bing, and Joey who were causing trouble, though they were difficult to manage. No, almost _everybody _was having issues that Skipper needed to solve.

Julien and his cousins, to celebrate the fact that they were back in New York, had been partying, loudly and frequently. It was driving Skipper crazy, and he wasn't the only one either. Roy was so annoyed by Julien that he always looked just a second away from snapping the foreign prince like a twig.

Then there was Phil and Mason, who were usually some of the more tame kids. Now, though, the two brothers were in the middle of one of their fights, and were refusing to talk to each other...well, Mason was refusing to talk to Phil. The two of them didn't fight often, but when they did, it affected everybody. Because Mason went all neat-freak all over the home, while Phil ran around, trashing up the place.

Part of Skipper's job as being the responsible one of the place was to play mediator, which was difficult enough to do when it was just for one issue. But there wasn't just one issue, there were a bunch, and Skipper was having a difficult time handling all of them.

Skipper...he needed help. He couldn't fix everybody's problems by himself, he never had been able to, but he had never really had to before either. Skipper had always had Kowalski around to help him out when he needed it. And Skipper actually needed help more often than he'd care to admit.

But, he couldn't rely on Kowalski now, because he wasn't there. Skipper had to deal with things by himself. True, Kowalski's trial month away was nearly up, and he'd be back any day...but who knew how long that would last? Eventually, Kowalski would most likely leave again, for good. No, Skipper couldn't count on Kowalski's help, or anybody's.

Skipper was on his own.

It was just so stressful, doing this by himself. It was getting so hard, that Skipper was almost tempted to ask somebody else to help him, and he _never _asked people for help! Unfortunately, the only people he actually would ask for help, he couldn't. Not now. Not with this.

Skipper knew that Private was more than willing to help him out, the boy had even volunteered to a couple of times, but Skipper always denied his help. Because Private was just a cute kid, how much help could he really provide? And even, if by some chance, Private was capable of helping, Skipper still didn't want him to. The kid was, well, a kid, and it shouldn't be his responsibility to help other people with their problems.

Skipper would gladly accept Rico's help, except he couldn't, because the second they all got back to New York the first thing that Rico had done was lock himself in his room, and he had barely come out since. Skipper wasn't an idiot, he knew that something was wrong, and he wanted nothing more than to talk to Rico, to find out what was going on, and help him.

But getting Rico to open up to him would take time, a lot of it. When Rico got upset about something, it usually took awhile to get him to talk about it, when he was really upset, it took even longer. Skipper knew that whatever was bothering Rico must be really bad, because the last time Rico had acted like this was when he'd first come here.

Rico had barely ever left his room, skipped out on meals all the time, and snapped at anybody who tried to talk to him. It had taken Skipper weeks to get Rico to behave any differently, to trust him. And it had been a lot longer after that for Rico to really be comfortable around anybody else. Now that Rico was acting the same way as he did before, well, Skipper had no idea how long it would take him to snap Rico out of it this time.

But, as Skipper kinda had his hands full with everybody else's issues at the moment, there was nothing he could do for Rico. Not until he got things stable again. Marlene did what she could to help Rico, but he wasn't as comfortable around her as he was with Skipper, so her efforts did little to help. Skipper knew that he was the only one that would be able to do anything, well, maybe Kowalski too, but Kowalski wasn't here.

Skipper sighed and put a hand to his forehead, which was really starting to ache. This leader stuff was really starting to get to him. Skipper couldn't help but wonder if maybe things would be better off if someone like Classified was in charge. The guy just had everything under control, and always made it look so easy. Skipper hated to admit it, but the guy was a good leader.

...or maybe Skipper was just a bad one.

**You know, it's kinda hard to write Skipper doubting his leadership skills when he's usually so confident and awesome, but I think I pulled it off okay. I'm sorry about the long wait, but I actually ended up writing this chapter _and _the next chapter as one, but then decided that it was really kinda long, and I could very easily split it into two chapters, no problem, so, that's what I did.**


	20. He's Back

**And here's my second chapter up for the day. Don't get used to this, it's not going to become a common thing...unless it does. I don't really know. Anyways, I hope you're in the mood for another angsty chapter, because that's what I got for you.**

"Rico, can you please just open the door and talk to me?" Marlene begged from outside her friend's room.

Rico ignored Marlene's pleas, as he had been doing a lot lately. He felt kind of bad about ignoring her like this, but he really wasn't in the mood for talking. He actually wasn't in the mood for doing anything except hiding under his covers in fear like the coward that he was, wishing that the world would just leave him alone and disappear.

Rico had been like this since they had all returned to New York, after what felt like the longest three weeks of Rico's life. Rico was sick of being around Savio, who loved to play with his mind, and was more than ready to go home, away from the creep. But just before they left Hoboken, Savio had whispered one last message into Rico's ear that had filled him with terror. Just three simple words.

Deilf ha vuelto.

_...Deilf has returned._

This was _exactly _what Rico had been afraid of. His nightmare's were going to become a reality again, and Rico had no idea what to do about it. So Rico did the only thing he could do. He hid, and hoped that, for once, Deilf would leave him alone. Rico knew that he wouldn't though. Deilf was going to try to get him again, Rico just had no idea how, or when. He just knew that it was going to happen. If it didn't...well, that would be a miracle, and Rico knew that when Deilf was involved, there was no such things as miracles.

"Come on Rico, you've been in there by yourself all week, it'll do you some good to have some company or something." Marlene said, trying, again, to get Rico to come out. "If you don't want to talk to me, fine, I can go get someone else if you want. I can go get Skipper, or Private, or Kowalski, or-"

"'walski?" Rico questioned quietly. What was she talking about? Kowalski wasn't around, he had left.

"Yeah, Kowalski." Marlene said. Rico could tell by the sound of her voice that she was very relieved to get a response from him, the first in days. "He came back this morning. I can go get him, if you want."

"No." Rico growled angrily. It was almost evening now, so if Kowalski had come back this morning, then he'd been there for hours, nearly the whole day. Rico was a little upset that nobody had bothered telling him that Kowalski was back, and really upset that Kowalski hadn't come to see him himself. Well, if Kowalski didn't want to see him, then he didn't want to see Kowalski.

...Yeah, that was a total lie. Rico wanted nothing more than to see Kowalski, though he was still mad at him. So, still grumbling, Rico reluctantly crawled off his bed and made his way to the door. The second he turned the knob just a fraction, the door was flown open from the other side. Before Rico could blink, Marlene had thrown her arms around him. Before he could process that she was hugging him, Marlene ended the embrace and, instead, punched his arm, hard.

"Ow." Rico whined and rubbed his now sore arm. "Wha' wa' tha' for?"

"Don't you dare scare me like that again." Marlene glared at him. "Seriously, I've barely seen you all month. I've been worried sick about you."

"...Sorry." Rico rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't meant to worry Marlene, or any of the others.

"what's going on with you anyway? You look terrible." Marlene's eyes had softened in concern. Rico shrugged. He hadn't looked in a mirror in a while, but knew that he probably didn't look very good. Days without much food or sleep, plus the constant worry and anxiety about Deilf, hadn't done anything good for his appearance. But Rico didn't really care about what he looked like right now. All he cared about now was seeing Kowalski, then getting back to his room before anything could happen.

"Come on, Kowalski and Skipper are in the kitchen." Marlene said as she began leading the way, Rico followed close behind her, though at the same time he also dragged behind a bit. Rico was a little on edge. The reason he had holed himself up in his room was because he had the irrational fear that if he was anywhere else, Deilf was just going to appear from out of nowhere and take him. Rico knew that the likelihood of that happening, especially while at home, was next to nothing, but he was still scared.

Then there was also the fact that Rico hadn't seen or heard from Kowalski in a month, and he didn't know what to expect. Were things going to be awkward? Was Kowalski going to be glad to be back? Were things even going to go back to the way they were before? Rico had no idea, and he was starting to doubt that doing this was a good idea in the first place.

"Rico, hey, things are going to be fine, alright?" Marlene reassured him. Though Rico didn't fully believe her, he was calmed by her words. Rico nodded and continued to follow Marlene, but when they got to the kitchen, while she went inside, Rico just stayed in the doorway, unnoticed, watching the scene in front of him.

Skipper and Kowalski, and now Marlene, were the only one's in the kitchen. Marlene sat at the table with Kowalski while Skipper bustled around the kitchen. Rico had no idea what Skipper was doing, or even if he was just doing anything at all. Actually, Rico believed that Skipper really was doing nothing. That he was just trying to making it look like he was busy because he didn't want anybody to see him just relaxing and talking to Kowalski.

"Skipper, would you stop walking around doing nothing and just sit down already?" Marlene asked. "It's not like anybody in here is going to judge you for relaxing for a minute."

"It would probably be good for you to rest a bit." Kowalski added. "From what I've heard, you've been on your feet almost constantly for a week now. I know you're good, but no one's that good."

"When would I have time to rest? There's stuff that needs to be done, and apparently I'm the only one around here that can do anything." Skipper said almost bitterly, though he did sit down next to Kowalski. When Skipper noticed his companions guilty expressions, he rolled his eyes.

"Guys, I'm kidding. Really, it's nothing I can't handle. Besides, I'm going to have to get used to doing things without you around anyway." Skipper nudged Kowalski with his elbow. "Which reminds me, do you know when you're leaving, you know, for real?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, because there is still some paperwork to deal with, though it shouldn't take too long." Kowalski said. "In fact, if things go well, I could be leaving with the Brine's as soon as tomorrow."

Rico's world stopped. Had he seriously heard that right? Tomorrow? Kowalski was going to leave, to walk right out of their lives, tomorrow? But he'd only just gotten back! Why was he leaving again so soon? And for good this time. Well, if leaving was what Kowalski really wanted, then fine, Rico wasn't going to stand in his way.

Rico glared at Kowalski, who was still completely oblivious to his presence. And Rico was just fine with that, it had been a bad idea to want to see Kowalski anyways. Rico was upset and angry, but he kept his cool. He quietly turned away from the kitchen and headed back to his room, which he shouldn't have left in the first place.

Once he was back in his room though, Rico took ahold of the door and slammed it shut as hard as he could. The small act of aggression toward the door did nothing to calm Rico. He felt like slamming the door fifty times over, or breaking everything in the room. But at the same time, Rico felt like doing nothing except curl up in a ball on his bed and cry.

Since he didn't know what to do, Rico just stood there, blinking back the hot tears that refused to stop coming to his eyes. Rico didn't know how long he was standing there before he got snapped out of it by a _ding _sound coming from his phone, signaling that he got a text message. Not knowing what else to do, Rico grabbed his phone and read the message which, strangely, was from Hans.

'_How are things going over there?'_ The message said.

'_fine.' _Was all Rico's reply was. He stared at his phone for a minute before adding '_Kowalski came back today.'_

'_Really? Must've been good to see him after so long.'_

Rico shook his head. '_It was, I guess, but he's leaving again tomorrow, for good.'_

'_Oh,' _A minute later another message came. '_How are you feeling?'_

'_I don't know.' _Rico answered honestly. His emotions were kinda messed up. He really didn't know how he felt, and he didn't want to think on it anymore. '_What about you?'_

Unlike the other replies, this one took a while for Hans to answer, though Rico had no idea why. It wasn't like it was a hard question. Finally, Rico got a response.

'_I'm fine, but I need to talk to you. In person.' _Now Rico was curious. What did Hans need to talk to him about that they couldn't do over texts. Rico didn't know what to expect, but he did believe that if Hans really needed to talk to him, than the least Rico could do was agree. After all, they were friends and kinda brothers, right?

'_When?' _Rico asked.

'_Now.' _Was Hans' reply, along with directions to the location, which wasn't too far away. Rico looked at his phone, then stared outside the window, thinking. If he met up with Hans, then he would have to leave the house for a bit, which would be difficult. Ever since Rico had heard about Deilf being back, he'd been too scared to leave his room, let alone the house.

But, what if what Hans wanted to talk about was really important? Besides, if Rico did meet up with Hans, than it would give him a reason to get out of the house, away from the others. Away from Kowalski.

Despite not knowing how he felt on the matter, Rico knew that he really didn't want to see or be anywhere near Kowalski at the moment. If he did, he would likely either burst into tears or punch Kowalski's face in, or both. Maybe a walk outside would do him some good, clear his head. Give him time to think about where he stood.

Upon reaching a decision, Rico got ready to go. He grabbed his backpack, which he never left the house without. It had everything in it that he might need. Well, almost everything. Rico rummaged through one of his drawers, pushing aside the clothes until he found what he was looking for. His switchblade.

Even Skipper didn't know about the blade, and he wasn't going to. Rico knew that technically he wasn't supposed to have the weapon, and would be in huge trouble if people found out about it. But right now, that was the last of his worries. Rico only had the knife in case of an emergency, which was why he was taking it with him. Just in case.

With his switchblade in his pocket, now Rico had everything he might need. Rico quickly threw on one of his jackets. While he was zipping it up, Rico's hand brushed against something resting against his chest. His necklace.

Rico stopped what he was doing and looked at his necklace, which was so much more than just a piece of jewelry to him. It symbolized his faith in God, his belief that things were going to be okay eventually. And right now, that was the last thing he was thinking. And looking at the cross pendant only made Rico think about Kowalski, who had given it to him. And Rico didn't want to think about Kowalski, not now.

Rico gently took off his necklace and set it on his dresser next to his phone, which was also being left behind. Rico would come back for it later, but right now, he just needed some space. With that down, Rico finished zipping up his jacket, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and headed out.

Sneaking out of the house was simple, Rico had done it countless times before. Soon, he was out on the streets, walking toward his destination. It was only a ten minute walk, which was good. Rico didn't know if he would have been able to handle much longer walking the streets by himself when night was falling. Normally, being out at night didn't bother Rico, it was actually quite relaxing, most of the time. Now was not like most other times though.

Rico was relieved when he got to his destination, an out of the way parking lot that was mostly empty. The only person that Rico could see there was Hans.

"Rico, you came." Hans said when Rico reached him, his voice sounding almost nervous. Something was off about Hans, he didn't look glad to see Rico, he almost seemed disappointed.

"Uh huh. Wha' 'oo wan'?" Rico asked. Hans bit his lip and looked at the ground, not saying anything. Finally he forced himself to look at Rico, who was surprised to see that Hans' eyes were filled with sorrow and regret.

"Wha's wron'?" Rico asked. Hans shook his head.

"I'm sorry." Hans said quietly. Rico didn't understand. What was Hans sorry about. Before he could ask what he was talking about, Rico felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. Like someone had hit him with a blunt object. Rico grunted and fell to his knees. His head was throbbing and he could barely think clearly.

"I'm sorry." Hans said again. This was the last thing that Rico heard before he felt another blow to the back of his head, and then, nothing.

**An angsty chapter ****_and _****it ends on a cliffhanger? Gosh, I'm just not treating Rico very nicely right now, am I? Now, I love Rico, I really do, it's just so easy to torment him so.**


	21. Danger

**I'm sorry about that cliffhanger last chapter, I just couldn't resist. Cliffhangers are kinda fun to write, but I do know how it feels to be left at a cliffhanger. And I'm sorry about the longish wait, really, I tried my best to write this chapter as fast as I could. It just took a while.**

Sometimes, Private really hated being a kid and the youngest person on his team.

Now, don't get him wrong, Private loved being a kid more than anything. After all, kids were the ones who had all the fun. And, it was because he was younger that Private was able to be the happy, adorable, Lunacorn loving boy that he was. If he was a few years older and acted the way that he did, well, Private was pretty sure that people wouldn't be as understanding about it. Even now, some people thought that Private was a little too old to like the things that he did, but since he was still pretty young, they didn't bug him too much about it. So yeah, Private didn't mind being seen as a child...well, most of the time Private didn't mind it.

But then there were other times, times like this, when Private really hated that people only saw him as a little kid who didn't know anything. Private may be a kid who liked to look on the positive side of life, but that didn't mean he was completely oblivious to the fact that bad things happened in life.

Whenever bad things came up, Private wanted to do what he could to help fix things. Unfortunately, nobody let him help, because all they saw when the looked at him was some helpless kid, and what could he possibly do to help? That was how Skipper saw him now, and Private hated it.

Ever since they'd returned, Skipper had been overworking himself, a lot. There was just a lot of stuff to take care of at the foster home, and it was too much for one guy to handle himself. Private knew this, which was why he volunteered to help out. Skipper, being the stubborn guy that he was, refused his help.

There were times when Private greatly admired Skipper's stubbornness, but now was definitely not one of those times. Private didn't admire Skipper continually refusing his help, he was annoyed by it.

It was just so frustrating. If Private was somebody else, like Rico or Kowalski, or even Marlene, Skipper would likely accept his help in a heartbeat. But he wasn't anybody else, he was Private. And because he was Private, Skipper only saw him as an adorable little kid, the youngest member of the team, who needed to be protected at all costs.

Private didn't want to be the person on the team who needed to be protected all the time, he wanted to be, well, a _real _member of the team. One who was just as important and useful as the others. But, sadly, he wasn't going to be seen as an equal member of the team until he proved himself, and it didn't look like Skipper was ever going to give Private a chance to prove himself.

Private knew that if he really wanted to, he could just go out and prove himself, without Skipper's permission. But, Private wasn't going to do that. He wasn't _that _desperate. Private greatly admired Skipper, and was glad to obey his orders, even if he didn't like them so much sometimes. But even when he didn't like Skipper's orders, Private followed them anyways, because, well, Skipper was the leader, and the oldest, which meant he knew what was best, right?

So, Private did as he was told and followed Skipper's orders, which, at the moment, were basically to do nothing and let everybody else handle things. Private hated not doing anything, but he backed off anyways. After all, Skipper said that he had things under control, and he wouldn't say that if he didn't, right?

Yeah, those thoughts flew right out the window when Private saw Rico sneaking out.

Just seeing Rico out of his room was shocking enough, considering that Rico hadn't left his room all week. That shock quickly turned to concern when Private saw the state that Rico was in. His hair, which was always up in a mohawk, was now down and in his face. Hidden behind his hair were Rico's eyes, which normally had a playful or mischievous, almost wild look about them. That look was almost entirely gone, replaced by an angry, fierce, and scarily determined look.

Private knew that Rico was rarely like this, but this was the side of his friend that Private didn't like so much. The side that scared him. Under normal circumstances, Rico was somewhat violent, unpredictable, and wild. He did things that were wrong all the time, but he didn't mean to be bad, it just happened.

When Rico got like this though, that's when he was really dangerous. Because he still behaved violently and unpredictably, but not so much as wild and out of control. Rico was perfectly aware of what he was doing, and even though he knew it was wrong, he did it anyways.

As if that wasn't bad enough, there was also the fact that Rico was sneaking out, which he hadn't done for months. Sure, Rico had still gone out for walks, but he often had somebody go with him, and normally, it was no secret when he went out. Now, he was most definitely sneaking out, meaning he did not want to get caught.

Something was going on.

Private briefly considered getting Skipper or Kowalski, but decided against it. The two of them were juggling their own problems at the minute. And Private wasn't even sure if there was a problem here. For all he knew, Rico was just upset and needed some space. That was, after all, often the reason of why Rico used to sneak out in the first place. But Private didn't think that that was it.

Call it an instinct, but Private just felt that something was wrong, and that Rico shouldn't go out. Not now, not when he was like this. Private knew that there might be nothing wrong, but his gut told him that there was. And Skipper was always telling them to listen to their instincts.

Something else that Skipper always told them was that the four of them were a team, which meant they had to stick together. They even had a credo that said just that.

Never swim alone.

Private would be going against that credo if he just let Rico leave by himself. Rico was his friend, and friends help each other. Whatever trouble Rico was in, if he was even in any trouble at all, he shouldn't have to deal with it by himself. So Private did the only thing he could. He followed Rico.

Private felt a little bad to be following Rico, without his knowledge. It made him feel slightly stalkerish. But, well, what else was he supposed to do? Tell Rico that he was following him? Yeah, that would work out really well.

Fortunately, Private didn't have to secretly follow Rico for long, only for about ten minutes, then, Rico stopped. Private, not knowing what else to do, hid out of sight and just watched. Rico, he seemed to be talking to somebody that Private could vaguely recognize in the fading light of evening. For a wild moment, Private thought that it was Skipper, but that couldn't be it, because Private knew that Skipper was back home.

It didn't take long for Private to realize that it was Hans that Rico was talking to. But why would Rico talk to Hans about anything? And what was Hans even doing there? Wasn't he supposed to be under lockdown back in Hoboken? And if Hans was out, then what about Clemson and Savio?

Private got the answer to his last question when he saw two figures that he instantly recognized as Clemson and Savio. Private briefly wondered what they were doing, since they obviously weren't they for a friendly chat. Then, Private noticed that Savio was wielding an object, like a bat or a rod or something, and was silently making his way towards Rico.

Before Private could cry out a warning, Rico was struck in the back of the head. Twice. The first hit brought him to his knees. The second knocked him to the ground where he lay, unmoving.

Private let out a brief cry of alarm, which he quickly stifled with his hand. The last thing he wanted was to be found. Private shrunk further into the shadows and tried to figure out what the heck he should do.

Private had followed Rico, hoping that he could be of some help should Rico need it. Now...now things had gotten out of hand. Private hadn't been expecting a violent situation, and didn't know how to handle it. He _couldn't _handle it.

Not by himself.

Private knew what he had to do. He took out the phone that Uncle Nigel had given him, and quickly texted both Kowalski and Skipper, his message briefly summarized the situation, and that he needed their help.

Private, unlike any of his friends, wasn't afraid to ask for help. Sure, Private liked to be independent sometimes, but when he needed help, he wasn't stubborn or stupid enough to pretend that he was fine.

It wasn't long before Private got a text back from Skipper. Private was expecting the message to say something like they were on their way. Or maybe for Skipper to call them idiots for sneaking off or something like that. What Private was not expecting, at all, was the message that he got instead.

'_If you ran into trouble with the Hoboken kids, then why not ask Classified for help?'_

Private didn't know how to respond to that. '_Uh, what?'_

'_It's his job to keep those guys in line. If those guys are giving you trouble, Classified and his team are your best chance for dealing with them.'_

This wasn't making sense. Skipper was the kind of guy who would run head first into a situation if he so much as thought that his friends might be in trouble. And here was Private, straight out saying he needed help, and Skipper was telling him to go to someone else for help? That was so unlike Skipper.

'_But Skipper, we need your help.'_

'_Trust me, you don't.'_

What was going on? Skipper usually thought that everybody needed his help, and never hesitated to help them...well, sometimes Skipper needed some persuading to help, say, Julien or something. But he always got around to helping them anyways. Why didn't he think they needed his help. Was...was Skipper doubting his capability to help? But, no, that was a crazy idea.

'_So, you're not coming?' _Private asked.

'_No. Get Classified to help.' _Skipper responded.

Private groaned in frustration and shut his phone. Alright, so Skipper wasn't coming...for whatever reason that Private still couldn't understand. But, Private still couldn't handle this by himself, and Rico needed help. So, Private did the only other thing he could think of. He did as Skipper suggested.

Private looked at the metal bracelet that Classified had given him weeks ago. He didn't exactly want to ask Classified for help, because, well, it felt kinda like he was betraying Skipper by going to Classified. Private knew how much Skipper really, really didn't like Classified. And Classified didn't like Skipper much either.

But, Skipper had told him to ask Classified. And Private didn't really have much of a choice. So, he reluctantly fingered at the bracelet before pushing the small button on the side. Hopefully, it would still alert Classified that he was in trouble.

Private just had to sit tight until help arrived though, if it even came at all. That was fine though. While he waited, he would just keep an eye on the others, make sure that nothing else happened. There was Hans, just standing there awkwardly, as if he wasn't sure what he was doing. Clemson was by him, and even though Private couldn't hear a word that was being said, he knew that Clemson was chatting it up. Rico was still sprawled on the ground, probably unconscious...At least, Private hoped that Rico was just unconscious. And Savio was...wait a second. Where was Savio?

"Hola, little niño." A cold voice said that brought chills up Private´s spine. The boy turned around and was frightened to see Savio sneering coldly at him. Private backed away, internally scolding himself for letting Savio sneak up on him like this.

"You really weren't supposed to see that." Savio shook his head. "But since you are here, I suppose we'll just have to use you to our advantage." Savio ruffled Private's hair in a similar way that Skipper often did. Except when Skipper did it, it was in an affectionate and playful way. Kind of like what a brother would do. Savio ruffling his hair though, it just felt so, _so wrong._ Private glared at Savio and pushed his hand away. Savio just chuckled, as if he thought that Private was just being cute.

"Wh-what are you planning?" Private stammered. He tried not to show how scared he really was.

"Oh, you'll see soon enough." Savio said deviously as he adjusted his grip on the rod he was holding. "Buenas noches, young Private." Before the boy could even think of running away, Savio swung his rod and struck Private in the head. And, just like Rico had, Private fell unconscious.

* * *

"-ke up. Priva'e, wa'e up." Private groaned and wished that whoever was shaking him would stop. He didn't want to get up, his head hurt too much. Private just wanted to sleep. However, whoever was shaking him just kept going, rather violently too. They seemed rather desperate for Private to get up.

"Stop." Private muttered in complaint. "'m tired. Head hurts."

"Uh huh, bu' 'oo have 'oo ge' up." Private recognized the voice now. It was Rico. But, why did he sound so scared? Were they in danger? Private had to know what was going on, so despite his pain, he forced his eyes open...only to see nothing at all. It was completely dark.

"Wh-why's it so dark? Where are we?" Private sat up, as he shook slightly with fear. The darkness disturbed him. Who knew what dangers could be hiding in the unknown? Private wished that he had a light or something, even just a small one. Anything was better than just sitting in the darkness, not knowing where you were or what was going on.

Suddenly, there was a sharp '_snap' _that made Private jump, and immediately the room was partially illuminated by a dim glow. Private looked to see Rico sitting beside him, holding a Glow stick, which he handed to Private.

Private beamed. One could always count on Rico to have on hand anything one could think of that they could possibly need. Private had no idea how Rico carried it all, especially when it looked like his bag had been taken from him. But Private really didn't care how Rico managed to carry so many things on his person, the boy was just glad to have a light source, even just a dim one.

There was another '_snap' _as Rico 'broke' another Glow stick for himself. The little light that the Glow sticks gave off did almost nothing to light up the room, but at least they weren't in complete darkness anymore. Now they could focus on bigger worries.

"Where are we?" Private asked as he adjusted his position. Sitting on a cold, somewhat damp cement floor wasn't very comfortable.

"Ba'emen'." Rico answered.

"Well, yeah, I figured as much." Private said. "But whose basement?"

"Fran'is Dei'f." Rico whispered. Private did not like how scared Rico sounded when he said that. He also didn't like the sound of that name. Francis Deilf. Private felt that somehow he should know who that was, but he couldn't remember. Well, whoever it was, he couldn't be good, or else Rico wouldn't sound so scared. And he wouldn't be shaking so much.

As if being locked in a dark basement wasn't enough of an indicator, Rico's terror quenched it: They were in some real trouble here. They had to find a way to get out, now, before anything worse happened.

"Rico, we have to get out of here." Private stood up, but had forgotten that he was wounded. Private's head, which had been aching before, began spinning. Private felt suddenly dizzy and would have fallen over if Rico hadn't been there to steady him.

"Can' lea'e." Rico said as he dragged Private down to sit on the floor again.

"Why can't we just leave? Is the door locked?" Private asked.

"Uh-huh." Rico nodded.

"How do you know?" Private asked. How did Rico know any of this? Like where they were, and whose house they were at. Did Rico also know why they were brought here in the first place? "Have you been here before?"

"Uh-huh. Ol' fos'er home." Rico said.

"Wait. You mean your last one?" Private asked. He had heard from the others that Rico hated any mention of his last foster home and had ran away from it. Well, if being locked in the basement was a common occurrence while Rico had been here, then Private understood why he had run off.

"What exactly happened here?" Private asked. Rico opened his mouth to answer, but froze and looked intently to the right, his eyes wide. He seemed to be listening for something.

"Rico, what's wrong?" Private asked.

"Shh!" Rico hissed quietly, "I 'ear some'in'."

Private focused his ears and thought he could hear something too, like footsteps, and they were coming closer. With each step closer, Rico's grip on Private's arm got tighter. The boy barely noticed his friend's tight hold though, as he was hanging on to Rico as if his life depended on it.

Then, the footsteps just stopped. Things were silent for a moment before the door was swung open, bathing the basement room in light. Private winced and closed his eyes to the sudden brightness. He opened them slowly, to let his eyes adjust to the light. Once they had and he saw who was standing in the doorway, Private couldn't believe his eyes. He really didn't want to believe his eyes.

Standing in the doorway was a man who, at first glance, nobody would be intimidated by. He looked just like any other normal guy that you would see when you walked down the street. Despite the man's appearances though, Private knew that this man was very, very dangerous.

The man was Francis Deilf, and now Private remembered why the name sounded so familiar to him. He had seen profiles about this guy. Many, many profiles, all going on about how dangerous he was. This man was the guy that his uncle had been trying to find for months now.

Francis Deilf was one of C.E.N.T.R.A.L.'s most wanted enemies. Private hadn't recognized the name earlier because most of the time, all the agents called him by his codename:

...Dr. Blowhole.

**You know, I wish I could have done a better job with that 'huge reveal' thing, but this chapter has taken an annoying amount of time to write and I just wanted to get the last few paragraphs written and done with. One would think that a chapter that was, for the most part, very easy to write, that it would be finished sooner. Unfortunately, my social life kept getting in the way of my writing...I can't believe I just said that, as I my social life is pretty much non-existent. But it's true. For once, I've had a somewhat busy few weeks. I'll try hard to get the next chapters up sooner, because I actually have a deadline for this story.**


	22. Fixing Things

**Not much to say here except hello, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I don't own Penguins of Madagascar.**

Kowalski was a smart guy. This was something that he was very proud of, and wasn't afraid to show it off. Despite how smart he was, Kowalski still had his moments where he seriously thought that he was a real oblivious idiot sometimes.

Returning to the foster home in New York after more than a month of being away, Kowalski had one of those moments. Kowalski had known that things at the foster home would be different, that Skipper would have to adjust to him not being there. But this...This was beyond ridiculous.

The house was a mess and completely chaotic, more so than it usually was. Skipper was trying to keep things under control, but it didn't take a genius to see that he was trying to juggle more than he could handle.

Kowalski felt a little guilty, and like a bit of a jerk. Skipper wouldn't be pushing himself to handle things on his own if Kowalski had been around to help, but he wasn't. Kowalski knew that it was irrational to think this way, but he still felt bad. While he'd been gone, Skipper had begun overworking himself, Rico had become reclusive again, and Private was going to make himself sick with worry if this went on for much longer. Kowalski just felt that maybe, if he had been around to help this past month, none of this would be happening.

Not that he regretted spending the month with the Brine's, because he didn't...exactly. Kowalski had loved every minute he spent with that family, but he did regret not being here for his friends when they needed him. It was complicated, and Kowalski felt kind of conflicted about it.

Kowalski shook his head. This was getting ridiculous. He had nothing to feel conflicted about, and yet those feelings just wouldn't leave him alone. At times like this (which was more often than Kowalski cared to admit) he really hated emotions, because he didn't understand them. At all.

Regardless of why he was feeling conflicted, Kowalski had accepted that he was feeling guilty for leaving his friends on their own. So, as a way to kinda make up for not being around, once Kowalski returned to the foster home, he began helping out, tried to lighten Skipper's load a bit.

That's how his day was spent, helping out here and there while at the same time catching up with the others. It was nice to see everybody again, and since Kowalski had no idea how long he would be here for, it could be anywhere between a few hours to a few weeks, he was planning on spending whatever time he could with everyone.

...alright, almost everyone. To be honest, Kowalski hadn't seen Rico yet all day. Kowalski wanted to see him, to talk to him, maybe clear the air a bit, but hadn't yet. The others had told him that Rico wanted to be alone, that he just needed his space, but Kowalski wasn't really buying it. Sure, Rico said he wanted to be alone, but Kowalski knew that sometimes when people say 'go away', they mean 'please don't leave.'

Kowalski didn't know for sure which one Rico meant this time, so he made a plan. Kowalski would give Rico some space for a few hours, then he'd talk to him, whether Rico wanted to talk or not.

The fault in his plan was that Kowalski often lost track of time when he worked. It happened when he drew, when he invented, even when he was just doing mundane boring tasks. Kowalski didn't plan for it to happen, and didn't think it would happen this time. But it did. He just got lost in what he was doing, let his thoughts taken over and, before he knew it, hours had passed and night was beginning to fall.

The only reason Kowalski got snapped out of his 'going through the motions' thing that he did was because he heard a '_ping' _from his phone, indicating that he got a message. Kowalski took out his phone, and nearly threw it at the wall in frustration when he saw the type of message he just received.

It was a stupid text! Kowalski recognized the number, so at least he knew who was texting him. Surprisingly, it wasn't Rico, but Private this time. Kowalski made a brief note to himself that later he would just tell Rico and Private that he couldn't read, so texting him was absolutely useless.

Kowalski's frustration began ebbing away, at least enough for him to question why Private was texting him in the first place when they were both in the same house. Unless, of course, Private wasn't there at the moment. But that was a preposterous idea. Private didn't have any reason to not be here, did he?

"Uh, hey, Kowalski, you okay there?" Marlene's voice cut into his thoughts. Kowalski jumped slightly when Marlene addressed him, he hadn't even noticed her there.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Kowalski asked.

"You were kinda spacing out there a bit." Marlene said. Kowalski frowned, his face going red a bit. He couldn't believe he had just spaced out, again.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." Kowalski returned his phone to his pocket and turned to Marlene. "Did you want to speak to me about something."

"Yeah, about Rico." Marlene began, which immediately caught Kowalski's attention. "Listen, I think you should go talk to him."

"I thought he wanted to be alone." Kowalski scoffed, even though the same idea had been going through his head for a while now.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "He's been alone long enough. Whether he knows it or not, he needs to talk to somebody about whatever's been bugging him."

"And you think that person should be me?" Kowalski raised an eyebrow. That conclusion didn't make much sense at all. If Rico was upset, which he obviously was, wouldn't it be better for him to talk to somebody who was more sympathetic and comfortable with feelings than he was?

"If he'll open up to anybody, it'll be you." Marlene said plainly. "He actually came out awhile ago to come talk to you, but I guess he chickened out or something and went back to his room."

"And you want me to go up there and talk to him?" Kowalski asked hesitantly.

"Yes! I just told you-" Marlene groaned. "You know what? We're done with the questions and answers thing. Just go talk to him." Marlene shoved him in the direction of the stairs. Kowalski sighed. He knew that Marlene wasn't going to stop bugging him until he actually talked to Rico.

Not that he was only doing this to get Marlene off his back. He'd been wanting to speak to Rico anyways. Marlene just gave him the push he needed to actually go through with it.

"Rico, are you in there?" Kowalski asked as he knocked on the door or Rico's room. Actually, now that he thought about it, the room was technically both Rico's and Kowalski's room. Because, earlier, Rico had shared a room with Skipper. But for the past week, apparently Rico wouldn't let anybody in, including Skipper. Which meant that Skipper had to share a room with Private. Which, logically meant, that for however long that Kowalski was here, if Skipper and Private were sharing a room, he would be bunking with Rico.

When Kowalski got no answer, he just went ahead and opened the door and let himself in. This was technically his room too, so he had as much right to be in here as Rico. The lights were off, which, honestly, Kowalski had expected, as Rico always prefered the dark. Especially when he was upset.

Kowalski wasn't accustomed to navigating his way through a room that was completely dark, so he kept the door open to give him at least some sort of light to see by. The room looked the same as it always did, though there was one thing that seriously bothered Kowalski about what he saw. Or didn't see.

Rico wasn't there.

Of course, Kowalski thought that he must be seeing things wrong because the room was still fairly dark, so he flipped the light switch on so he could see better. The improved lighting only confirmed his initial thought. Rico wasn't in the room.

But, where else could he be? Kowalski knew that he wasn't anywhere else in the house. So the only logical conclusion was that Rico wasn't at home. He must've gone out. And when Kowalski didn't see Rico's backpack around, he knew that it must be true.

Kowalski wasn't too concerned. After all, Rico went out all the time, nothing strange there. But, then again, it was getting dark out, and Rico hadn't really gone out at night before. So, yeah, Kowalski was a bit concerned. Maybe he'd just call Rico's cell phone, just to make sure he was okay.

Except that plan didn't work, because when Kowalski dialed Rico's number, a phone on the desk began ringing. Kowalski stared at the ringing phone for a moment, wondering why the heck Rico would have left it behind, which he never did. After a moment, Kowalski went over to the phone on the dresser, and was about to pick it up when his hand brushed over something else. The chain of a necklace.

Kowalski stood frozen as he looked at Rico's cross necklace, the phone all but forgotten now. Kowalski had never seen Rico not wear the necklace before, he always had it, it was important to him. One of his most valued possessions. And yet, here it was, left behind.

Kowalski had known that Rico was upset before, but he hadn't known how bad it was. But if it was bad enough for Rico to lock himself in his room, then leave without a word without taking his phone or his necklace, it must be really _really _bad.

Kowalski's stomach twisted up in guilt. He should have come to talk to Rico earlier, much earlier. Maybe then, things wouldn't get this far. Now, Rico was gone, and Kowalski had no idea where he was or how to find him.

Since Kowalski had no idea where to begin looking for Rico, and he hated feeling useless, he decided to make good use of his time while he waited for Rico to come back. Kowalski was going to find out just what his friend was so upset about in the first place. And he had an idea on how he could figure it out.

Kowalski took out his phone. Rico had sent him so many texts this past month, surely one of them would indicate what was going on. Of course, since he couldn't read, Kowalski figured that now would be the best time to use the function he had created for just this purpose.

Unfortunately, Kowalski hadn't actually installed the function, and he couldn't use it until he did. Kowalski sat on the floor, took out his phone, and began installing the function. The work was slow, much slower than Kowalski cared to admit, but he couldn't risk working any quicker. Phone's were fragile things, and if he wasn't careful, he could possibly lose all his work, and he couldn't afford to let that happen.

Finally, _finally_, Kowalski was able to get the thing installed. Kowalski anxiously scrolled through all his texts till he got to the very first one that Rico had sent him. Activating the function, Kowalski was able to listen to just what the message said.

The first message revealed little to no information. But listening to it, along with all the other texts, Kowalski was able to begin to understand. All these texts, these messages, they had just been Rico looking for somebody friendly to talk to, to understand him. The more texts Kowalski listened to, the more distressed and desperate Rico seemed.

Once again, Kowalski found himself feeling extremely guilty. Rico, he had just been looking for something to talk to, and Kowalski hadn't even been able to do that for him.

It wasn't long before Kowalski had listened to all of Rico's texts, though he still had one more message, Private's. Kowalski's curiosity led him to go ahead and listen to Private's text too. This one though, it was different from Rico's, longer, and by the end of it, Kowalski's skin had gone cold.

Rico was hurt and in trouble, and it was possible that now Private was too. They needed help.

Kowalski pocketed his phone hastily, got up, and made his way to the door. He had to tell Skipper about this. Before leaving the room though, Kowalski stopped for a brief moment at the dresser to grab Rico's phone and necklace, just in case Rico wanted them when they found him.

Kowalski only had to search for a few minutes before he found Skipper in the gym. Kowalski thought the location kind of strange, because though Skipper made a point to spend at least an hour in the gym every day, it was more often than not in the early hours of the morning, when nobody else was up. Then again, Kowalski figured Skipper was only in the gym so late in the day so he could get rid of all his pent-up stress and frustrations.

"Skipper, Rico and Private are in trouble." Kowalski said, worry evident in his voice. Skipper didn't react the way that Kowalski had expected, or hoped, that he would.

"So, I guess Private texted you too." Skipper said simply as he continued hitting the non-living daylights out of their very much overused punching-bag.

Kowalski blinked. "Wait. Private texted both of us?"

Another hit at the punching-bag. "Yes, that's what it looks like."

"...So what are we just standing around here for? We need to go out there and-"

"No." Skipper said shortly as he sent a particularly hard punch at his target.

"No? Skipper, we can't just do nothing." Kowalski reasoned.

Skipper took ahold of the punching-bag, stilling it. "If Private did what I told him to, they'll have all the help they need."

"Skipper, what are you talking about?" Kowalski asked.

"I told the kid to get help from Classified and his team." Skipper said.

Kowalski stared at Skipper in shock. "Why would you do that?"

"Because they're more qualified for this type of thing." Skipper finally turned toward Kowalski when he said this. And Kowalski was startled to see how defeated Skipper looked right then. "You have no idea just how dangerous Savio, Clemson, and Hans are. Just the two of us aren't enough to take down all three of them. Classified and his team are older than us, have all kinds of fancy gadgets to use, and they know how to handle these guys."

"So, what, you expect us to just sit here and wait for Classified to save our friends for us?" Kowalski asked exasperatedly. Was Skipper being serious? He was honestly planning on doing absolutely nothing except wait for somebody else to do all the work? Really?

Skipper shrugged in a seemingly nonchalant manner, as if he didn't care. Kowalski knew that that was far from the truth though. It wasn't that Skipper didn't care, he just didn't know what to do and was scared. There was something else that Kowalski saw there too. Doubt.

Kowalski had seen SKipper scared and unsure before, just not to this extent, with the self doubt lying there, just under the surface. Skipper wasn't exactly the type of person who had doubts about himself, so this was a whole new side of Skipper that Kowalski was seeing. It was interesting. Honestly, Kowalski thought that a little doubt would do Skipper some good, give him some humility, at least a bit.

But now was not the best time for that, at all, not when their friends needed them.

"Skipper, I don't know what this whole thing is about, but whatever it is, you need to snap out of it." Kowalski said.

"I...what?" Skipper looked nearly flabbergasted. It wasn't often that Kowalski spoke so bluntly to him, and it always threw Skipper off.

"Look, I don't know what your problem is right now. All I know is that Private and Rico are in trouble. Maybe you feel comfortable letting somebody else save our friends, but I'm not. If you want to sit around and wallow in self pity while you wait for things to just become better, go ahead, but I'm not." Kowalski's tone was a little harsher than he meant, but it got the point across just the same.

Skipper was stunned by his words. He didn't respond to them, and Kowalski wasn't going to wait for an answer. Unlike Skipper, he was planning on taking action.

"Wait, where are you going?" Skipper asked when Kowalski began to leave the room. Skipper sounded kinda scared and worried, so he probably knew exactly where Kowalski was going.

"I'm going to go help our friends." Kowalski answered without stopping or turning around. He was determined to do this, even if Skipper wasn't.

"Kowalski, wait." Skipper called out to him. Kowalski stopped, only because Skipper's tone had gone back to being commanding. "You can't seriously think I'm just going to let you walk right into danger by yourself."

"I'm not going to let you stop me." Kowalski turned around and glared at Skipper, who crossed his arms.

"Then I guess I'm just going to have to come with you." Skipper decided. Kowalski grinned. Now that was more like it. Sure, it was clear that Skipper thought that this was a bad idea, but at least he was coming.

"So, where are we going?" Skipper asked.

"Uh." Kowalski rubbed the back of his neck when he realized that he actually had no idea where Rico or Private were. Skipper just laughed at his cluelessness.

"This is so unlike you, jumping into the face of danger without thinking things through at all." Skipper said.

"Well, it was clear you weren't going to, and somebody had to." Kowalski said.

"Yeah, because the world is always in need for a few more knuckleheads." Skipper rolled his eyes and got out his phone. "Why don't we just text Private and ask him where he is?"

"That...is actually a really good idea." Kowalski noted.

"You're not the only one who knows how to use his brain." Skipper smirked and sent his text. A minute later, they got a reply that gave them the address of where they were going. They didn't have much of a plan, and usually that would bug the heck out of Kowalski. Now though, he barely cared. All that mattered was that they were going to save their friends.

**This chapter was actually really easy to write, and I love it when things are easy to write, 'cause then I'm not just sitting around, thinking about what to write, I just write it.**

**The one hard thing to write about this chapter was Skipper doubting himself, and maybe he might've gotten over it really suddenly, even though he's not exactly over it yet. I just couldn't think of any other way to write it.**


	23. Gunpoint

**I'm warning you now readers, this chapter is a bit more violent than the others...meaning there's violence in it. Nothing too descriptive or bad, just thought I'd let you know.**

**On a side note, I just realized how close to the end of the story we are. I'm serious, there's only, like, two more chapters after this one...wow.**

"Kowalski, remind me to never let you plow ahead without thinking anymore, because this was a stupid plan." Skipper scolded his companion. Kowalski gaped at Skipper, at a brief loss for words on just how to reply to that.

"I-how is that fair?" Kowalski objected. "You're always plowing ahead without thinking."

"Yes, but when I do it, everything ends up working out." Skipper pointed out. "The one time you don't stop to think, we end up at a house being guarded by a freaking gang." Skipper gestured furiously to said house. Kowalski opened his mouth to argue, but closed it because, yeah, Skipper kind of had a point there.

The two of them were crouched behind a car, out of sight of said gang members. Neither of them were familiar with this particular gang, but they did know a thing or two about gangs. A very vicious and territorial gang called The Rats often liked to hang around the area near their foster home, and they always caused trouble. Skipper and his team had dealt with them a couple of times before, and they were a pretty tough crowd.

So if this gang were as difficult to handle than The Rats, then there would be a problem. Because that house was where their friends were, at least, according to Private's text it was, and they had to get in their. But, with that gang guarding the entrances, neither Skipper nor Kowalski could think of a way to get past them, and they were both becoming anxious.

"If I'd had known that we'd be sitting around doing nothing, I would have stayed home and done nothing there." Skipper muttered.

"You would just abandon our friends like that because you're impatient?" Kowalski asked harshly. Skipper glared at him.

"Hang on, I didn't say that!" Skipper said, as though angry and offended by the suggestion. "But it's not like we're doing any more to help them from out here than we would at home."

"But at least here, we might actually get find an opportunity where we can do something." Kowalski argued back.

Skipper was about to respond, but froze when he noticed that they weren't alone. Neither boy had stopped to think that just because they were out of sight didn't mean that they couldn't be heard. Their conversations hadn't even been whispered. So, of course, a member of the same gang that they were trying to hide from had heard them and alerted some buddies of his of their presence.

Skipper and Kowalski were both at least competent at hand to hand combat. But, as they were caught off guard, outnumbered, and surrounded, they didn't stand a chance. Kowalski, realizing the odds were against them, and not exactly being a fan of physical confrontation at all, had immediately surrendered.

Though, he was immensely surprised to see Skipper doing the same beside him. Skipper never ran from a fight, even when his enemies obviously overpowered him, he still fought back. To see Skipper actually giving up, it was very discouraging and made Kowalski feel kinda depressed.

The two of them, now captured, were dragged to behind the house. They were both bound and had duct tape strapped over their mouths, and then they forced to the ground. It was uncomfortable, but still, neither of them resisted, because they knew that things could be made much, much worse for them if they tried to fight back now. They were already caught, so all resisting would do was irritate their captors.

So they just sat there, waiting while the gang tried to figure out what they were going to do with them. They were speaking frantically to each other. Or, at least, Kowalski was pretty sure that they were speaking, even though he couldn't understand a word they were saying. Seriously, Rico's english was easier to understand than the gibberish that these guys were speaking.

Kowalski and Skipper, with nothing else to do, just watched the gang argue back and forth with each other. Or, at least, it looked like they were arguing. Skipper and Kowalski watched them until somebody else's arrival diverted their attention. The newcomer couldn't be any younger than Kowalski and Skipper, but his wide eyes and childish expression made him appear younger than he probably was.

The gang had now also noticed the newcomer, and their bickering immediately ceased. They stared at him and, for a moment, Kowalski was afraid they were going to attack. But, they didn't. They almost seemed to be looking at him with respect, familiarity. Maybe this kid was also a member of their gang, though, Kowalski found that a little hard to believe. He just didn't look the part.

"So, I guess there really were some spies hanging around here." The stranger eyed them, looking amused and kinda curious. "Huh, I guess Deilf wasn't being paranoid, though these guys aren't exactly the intruders I was expecting. but who knows, they might still arrive to try to spoil our fun. Elijah, Kevin, Nicholas, go back to patrolling, keep an eye out for more guests." He pointed to three of the guys, who immediately went off to do as they were told.

Skipper tilted his head and glared at the guy in confusion. Just who was he, that he could get members of a gang to obey his words when most of them were older and stronger than him? His confusion must've been evident, because the guy seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

"You don't know who I am?" He asked. He sounded almost disappointed. Skipper shook his head. "Well, you may not know me by appearance, as I am not often seen. I work from the shadows, a phantom in the night. I haunt people's dreams, than watch as they cower in fear at the sound of my name! For I am Dave."

Skipper blinked blankly and shrugged with difficulty, he was still clearly unimpressed. Dave visibly deflated. He narrowed his eyes and scowled at Skipper.

"You're really taking the fun out of this, aren't you? Anybody else would be terrified if they ever had a run in with me and my gang." Dave grumbled. Skipper's eyes widened and he tried to say something, though because of the tape, it was muffled.

"You know, talking doesn't usually work very well when you have something covering your mouth." Dave said. "I can take care of that for you, but if you try to alert anybody that you're here, I will make things very unpleasant for you. Understood?" Skipper nodded his agreement. Dave took the tape that was covering Skipper's mouth and quickly snatched it off. Skipper winced from the pain, but got over it quickly.

"You said that this was your gang." Skipper said the second his mouth was uncovered. "Did you mean that you're a member? Or-"

"When I said 'my gang', I meant it. I'm it's leader." Dave said proudly. Skipper just stared at him in disbelief. Because, really? This guy was the leader of a gang? That couldn't be possible. People in gangs were supposed to be intimidating, ruthless. The leaders were supposed to be even more so. Dave, he was just the opposite of that.

Dave had grown tired of Skipper's silence, so went ahead and took off the tape that was covering Kowalski's mouth too. Kowalski, like Skipper, opened his mouth to speak the second the tape was gone. Unlike Skipper though, Kowalski's question had nothing to do with Dave and his position in the gang.

"Earlier, did you just say that you were working for some guy named Deilf?" Kowalski asked quickly.

"I'm not working for him, we just-" Dave said defensively, but Kowalski cut him off.

"And when you said Deilf, you didn't mean Francis Deilf, did you?" Kowalski asked. Dave's eyes narrowed in confusion. This had not been what he'd been expecting to talk about. Dave was about to reply when Skipper beat him to it.

"Why? Do you know this Deilf guy? And if you do, how?" Skipper asked. Kowalski blushed, his face becoming bright red.

"Well, I don't know him _that _well, but Doris has introduced us, and-" Kowalski stammered.

"Whoa, hang on." Skipper interrupted, and he looked annoyed. "You're telling me this has something to do with Doris?"

"Francis is Doris' older brother." Kowalski said.

"So, your crush's older brother arranged for our friends to be kidnapped." Skipper said.

"Hey, we don't know that he had anything to do with this." Kowalski said defensively.

"Seriously? Dirk practically told us that he was very much involved in it." Skipper rolled his eyes. Kowalski was about to say something else, but froze when Dave, who was very much annoyed at the two of them, pointed a gun in his face.

"Just stop talking." Dave said coldly. "I was kind enough to give you two a little bit of freedom, and how did you spend it? By blabbing on about some stupid relationship of yours that I couldn't care less about. You two are my prisoners, and prisoners really shouldn't ignore their captors, or else things could get...messy."

Kowalski's blood ran cold. Having a gun pointed at you was scary enough. It was even worse that Kowalski could see in Dave's eyes that he was deadly serious. If either of them did something that so much as annoyed Dave, he wouldn't hesitate in hurting them. Or worse.

It looked like Private and Rico weren't the only ones that were in trouble now.

* * *

After living with Francis Deilf for two years, Rico had thought that he had a fairly good idea about his methods. If you don't do as he says, he hurts you. Simple as that.

Well, Rico had thought wrong. It wasn't as simple as that.

When Rico had seen that man again, he had been terrified, because he had known what to expect. Pain. Deilf wanted Rico's cooperation, which was the one thing that the teenager wasn't going to give. And, as per usual after Rico had refused him, Deilf had punished him, just like every other time.

Except it wasn't, because every other time this had happened, Private hadn't been there.

Private. That naive, loyal, and stupidly brave Private. When Deilf had moved in to hurt Rico, Private had intervened, putting himself between the danger and his friend.

Now, Deilf wasn't an idiot. It was obvious that Private cared a lot about Rico, and that Rico cared about the boy too. The man decided to use this to his advantage. No matter how many times Deilf punished Rico, how much he hurt him, Rico still refused him. Well, maybe it was time to try a new strategy by threatening somebody else.

So, instead of going after Rico, Deilf had gotten ahold of Private. He had dragged the struggling boy up the basement stairs, with Savio and Clemson trailing close behind them. Deilf had told Rico that he was giving him some time and privacy to think on his offer, then he had shut the door, locking Rico in the basement once again.

This was nothing new. Rico was used to being locked in the basement for hours on end. What was new though was that all those other times, Rico hadn't had to worry about anybody else's safety except his own. Right now though, Rico couldn't care less what happened to him. Heck, he would rather Deilf were down here beating the crap out of him than upstairs doing who knows what to Private.

And there was nothing that Rico could do about it but wait, and he hated it, more than anything. Rico was so anxious, and he had been clenching his fists so tightly that he could feel his palms bleeding. He didn't care about his own bleeding hands though, he just wanted Private to be okay.

"You know, you shouldn't do that to yourself." Hans said. Rico gasped, he had nearly forgotten that Hans had stayed down there with him while the others had gone upstairs. Rico looked at Hans, who, strangely, looked concerned. But, that couldn't be true. It was because of Hans that Rico and Private were here in the first place, why would he be concerned about them? No, Rico was probably just seeing things because of the dimness of the room. After all, their only source of light were those two stupid Glow Sticks that Rico had lit earlier.

Hans grabbed Rico's hands, forcing them to uncurl a bit. Rico tensed even more at the touch, but didn't pull away because, well, Hans was being surprisingly gentle.

"I wouldn't worry so much about your friend if I were you. He's a tough kid, probably stronger than you'd expect." Hans tried to reassure him. "He actually reminds me a lot of Skipper."

Rico chuckled a little at that because Skipper and Private were total opposites of each other. Despite this, Rico understood what Hans was saying. When it all boiled down to it, both Skipper and Private would do whatever it took to help a friend in need, no matter how big, or how small, that need may be.

Hans sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, about earlier, for tricking you to come out." Rico scowled at the reminder. He was angry with Hans about that, but, not that angry, because Hans really seemed like he regretted it, and Rico didn't really hold it against him. Because, really, Deilf was a scary guy to stand up against.

Rico squeezed Hans' hand in what he hoped was a reassuring way. Hans smiled slightly at him.

The somewhat calm and quiet moment was ruined when the door was thrown open. The others had returned. Hans let go of Rico's hands and backed away quickly from him before the others could see. Rico barely noticed the sudden separation. He was too concerned about Private's well being.

Rico didn't like how Deilf still had Private in his clutches, but at least, for the most part, the kid looked okay. Sure, he was beat up and obviously hurt, but it could have been so much worse. And the kid didn't look traumatized, so Rico thought it was safe to assume that Savio hadn't gotten his hands on the boy.

So, Private was okay...alright, he was far from okay. Deilf had a tight grip on Private, the man's eyes just dared Rico to try to defy him now. Rico wanted to, he so desperately wanted to go against whatever Deilf wanted, but he couldn't, not when that man was holding a knife against Private's throat.

And not just any knife. It was Rico's switchblade. Deilf or one of the others had likely confiscated it from him while he'd been unconscious. Rico seethed at the sight of Private being threatened with his blade. Rico was aware that Deilf was only using his switchblade just to spite him.

"I didn't want it to come to this, Rico, but you really left me little choice." Deilf said to him. He really hated it whenever that man opened his mouth and spoke to him in that deceivingly warm voice of his.

"I can make this nightmare end, Rico. All you have to do is join me." Deilf said. Rico merely growled in response. Deilf looked disappointed. "I don't see why you continue to resist when it does nothing but give you pain."

"Are you so desperate to prove that you're a _good person _that you'll let yourself continue to go through pain needlessly, just to possibly save some random people? People who, if they met you, would either ignore you, or use you before leaving in the end."

Rico winced slightly, angry with himself for listening to anything that Deilf was saying. But, if Rico was being honest with himself, the man had a point. Rico wasn't exactly the biggest fan of mankind, as many people were blind to what was going on around them, judgemental of things they didn't understand, and even downright cruel.

But, just because Rico didn't exactly like mankind, that didn't mean he wanted anything bad to happen to them, and he knew that bad was exactly what Deilf had in mind. Because, as much as Rico disliked people, Deilf hated them even more, much more, and obviously wouldn't hesitate to hurt anybody who got in the way of his plans. Especially not if his plans involved vengeance of any sorts, as they likely did.

No, Rico couldn't agree to help Deilf with this...but he also couldn't let anything happen to Private. Rico had no idea what he should do. His resolve was beginning to break, and Deilf knew it. And so did Private.

The young boy didn't like this situation any better than Rico did. Not because he was scared for himself, though having a knife to one's throat wasn't exactly a fun experience. No, Private was worried about Rico, who just seemed so conflicted and broken. Rico always seemed to be in so much pain all the time, and Private wasn't about to let himself be threatened while his friend suffered even more. Private was going to do something to fix things.

Despite what people thought when they saw him, Private was not the helpless little boy that people thought he was. He'd been taught by both his uncle and Skipper how to defend himself, and dang it all if he wasn't going to put that knowledge to some actual use.

Private acted without thinking about it, he let instinct take over. Private used one of the first self defense moves that his uncle had taught him, one that would disarm his opponent, which would be very useful in this situation. Somehow, Private succeeded, most likely because Deilf hadn't expected him to do anything, and now he was the one in possession of the knife.

But just having the weapon was not enough. Despite how much Private hated it, he knew that he and Rico were still in danger. He had the knife, and now, he had to use it. And he had to act soon, while everybody was still caught off guard. Private closed his eyes tightly, because he really didn't want to see the effect of what he was about to do, and slashed the blade.

Private may not have been able to see what he was doing, but the harsh scream of pain was more than enough to let him know that he had done what he'd tried to, to hurt Deilf enough for them to hopefully get a chance to escape.

What Private hadn't counted on was that Francis Deilf was durable man, who didn't let an injury stop him. Even if that injury was a long scratch going over his right eye. Private's attack hadn't stopped Deilf, if anything, it just made him angry. And everyone could see that he was planning on taking that anger and fury out on the brat who dared think he could hurt him.

Deilf was planning on hurting Private, badly, and Rico wasn't about to just there and let it happen. Rico moved forward, intent on stopping Deilf, when his foot lightly kicked something metal. Rico stopped briefly and picked up what he had kicked, though he already knew what it was. It was a weapon that Deilf always carried on his person. He must've dropped it when Private had attacked.

Rico handled the gun easily, gently, almost reverently. He knew how to work it well, and was a good shot with it. He respected, but also feared the power that came with holding a gun. A weapon that could do so much damage with so little effort.

Looking at the weapon, Rico knew what had to be done. He didn't want to hurt anybody, but if he did nothing then Deilf would just hurt countless people, including Private. Rico couldn't let that happen. He knew what he had to do, what he honestly should have done a long time ago.

Time seemed to slow down for Rico as he took the gun and aimed it carefully. He couldn't afford to miss his target, not this time. Rico tightened his grip on the weapon. Deilf needed to be stopped, no matter what it took.

With this thought in his head, Rico pulled the trigger and fired the shot.

**Well...that chapter happened. It was a little difficult to write, because Dave and Blowhole are such interesting characters, but I actually like how it turned out. Seriously, I had such a hard time trying to figure out how to write Deilf. Luckily, I was able to find inspiration by listening to some songs from **_**Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. **_**The song 'My Eyes' was most helpful for his character. Though I did also listen to 'Brand New Day', which actually reminded me a lot of Rico in this chapter.**


	24. Rescue

**I've just been leaving off on cliffhangers quite a bit lately, haven't I? I mean, I practically gave you two in the last chapter. Well, the great thing about cliffhangers is that they're resolved in the next chapter...Well, usually they are...Alright, at least mine are.**

The shot rang out, followed immediately by an almost deafening silence. They all just watched as Francis Deilf fell to the ground where he lay, unmoving. A small bleeding hole in his back from where the bullet had hit. For a moment, nobody moved, too stunned by what had just happened.

Clemson, who really hadn't expected things to escalate this much, just stood there, wondering what the heck had happened.

Private, who didn't like violence or blood much at all, felt ill at the sight of the man who had just a minute before been trying to attack him. Private didn't want to look at Deilf anymore, he really didn't want to, but he couldn't make himself look away.

Rico fell to his knees, looking horrified about what he had just done. His hands, which had been so steady before, were now shaking like crazy. He was clutching the gun so tightly now that his fingers were beginning to turn white.

Savio was the first to break from the stupor that everyone had been under, and he was not happy, at all. He had had plans, and Deilf was going to help him achieve them. But Rico, the kid that Savio had _always _insisted that they didn't need, that they would be better off without, might have _ruined _everything.

Savio moved toward Rico angrily, intent on making him pay for what he had done. He adjusted his grip on the metal rod he had been holding this whole time. Usually, Savio didn't like using the rod, because it made things too messy. When Savio wanted to cause pain, he preferred to do so with his bare hands, which was much more satisfying than using a weapon. His metal rod was usually reserved solely for knocking somebody out quickly. Right now though, well, he would just have to make an exception.

Savio, who was now near Rico, who hadn't even noticed him, raised the rod. As he began to swing it down towards Rico though, it was grabbed out of his hands. Savio turned and was surprised to see a terrified Hans now wielding his rod. Hans was actually attempting to stop him. Savio supposed that he shouldn't really be all that shocked by this. After all, he had known that Hans had been befriending Rico, so of course wouldn't like to see any pain come to him. What was shocking was that Savio really hadn't thought that Hans would ever have the guts to do anything to stop him.

Eh, no matter. Savio didn't need his rod. He prefered working with his hands anyways. Savio turned back toward Rico. As Savio moved in for the attack, only to be met with a hard blow to his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Savio staggered back a few steps, tried to catch his breath. He shortly recovered and glared at the source of the blow.

Hans, now no longer looking scared, but fiercely determined. He was now standing between Savio and Rico. From the way he was holding the rod, Savio could tell that Hans wouldn't hesitate to use it against him again if he tried to go after Rico.

So, Hans' decided he wanted to play hero? What a twist. Well, if that was the way Hans wanted it, so be it, Savio could be flexible. So instead of even trying to go around him, Savio went for Hans. Once he was finished with this traitor, than he would go for Rico. Savio lunged toward Hans, only for the Dane to sidestep out of the way. Hans swung the rod and hit Savio in the chest again, possibly damaging his lungs.

Alright, now Savio was mad. Savio went to attack Hans again, but this time, when the Dane dodged and tried to attack with the rod again, Savio grabbed the weapon and wrenched it out of Hans' hands. Savio tossed the weapon aside where it clattered to the ground. Now they were both unarmed, and Hans wouldn't get away with anymore of those cheap shots.

Hans was thrown slightly-off balance when the rod had been yanked away from him, and Savio was going to take advantage of that to get in a shot of his own. Savio brought back his elbow and rammed it into Hans' face, hard, knocking him to the ground. Hans tried to get up, which just encouraged Savio to kick him down again. Hans struggled to get up again, but Savio stopped him easily by wrapping his fingers around his throat, pushing him back to the ground.

"You surprise me, Hans." Savio hissed as he tightened his grip on Hans' throat. "You've always put your own safety and needs above anybody else's. I guess all this time you've been spending with Rico has made you like him. Weak." Savio emphasized his last word by putting his knee, and weight, on Hans' stomach. The sudden additional pressure forced Hans to groan and exhale, making him to lose some of the precious air he had.

Hans gasped for breath, but he wasn't able to get enough air, and they both knew it. But Hans wasn't going to give up without a fight. The Dane struggled under Savio's grip. He squirmed and clawed at Savio's hands in a desperate attempt to get his throat free so he could breath normally again. Hans' efforts did little to nothing to phase Savio. If anything, it made him tighten his grip.

Hans struggled for longer than Savio expected him to, but as time dragged on, Hans' attempts to get away became weaker until they stopped altogether. Hans fell limp as he finally just let unconsciousness take over.

* * *

Back outside, things weren't very eventful, as neither Skipper nor Kowalski dared move or make a sound while Dave still had that gun in his hands, pointed right at them. No, things were actually very quiet, until, that is, they all heard the gunshot.

Kowalski flinched terribly at the noise. It was scary enough as it was to be threatened by a gun, then to hear a shot ring out? It was downright terrifying. It took him a moment to realize that the sound hadn't come from outside, but from within the house.

...The house that Private and Rico were in.

This realization did nothing to calm Kowalski's fears after hearing the gunshot. If anything, he became even more worried. Skipper or Private could be hurt, or worse, and he and Skipper were stuck out here, not able to do anything about it.

Skipper had realized this too, and was just about as happy about it as Kowalski was. It was ridiculous. They had come here to save their friends, and yet, they were helpless to do so. No, that was not okay.

Skipper struggled against his bonds in a vain attempt to get free. Dave turned the gun on Skipper, though he didn't seem very serious about shooting it at the moment. Possibly because he found Skipper's struggling mildly amusing.

"It sounds like Deilf is meeting more resistance in there than he was expecting." Dave commented. Skipper's eyes flashed dangerously and he struggled even more.

"I swear, if either of them are hurt, I'll-" Skipper growled.

"You'll what?" Dave asked, cutting off Skipper's threat. "You'll struggle me to death? Honestly, you seem to keep on forgetting that you are our prisoner. You're trapped, with no way out.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." A new voice said. It was a voice they all recognized, and one that Skipper had loathed hearing before. Now though, he couldn't be more relieved to hear the sound of that arrogant jerk's voice.

Dave smirked and pointed his gun in the direction of the voice. "You're late. I was wondering when you and your team were going to join the party, Classified." Dave gestured for his men to find the team and take them down. They didn't have to search long, as both Corporal and Short Fuse jumped down from the roof, though how they got there was anybody's guess.

A battle broke out between the two members of The North Wind and some of the gang. Other members of the gang went to the roof to search for the two missing North Wind agents. Even Dave got swept up into the violence and he went to join in, leaving Skipper and Kowalski completely unattended.

Apparently, this had been part of a plan of some sorts, because the moment nobody was paying attention to them, Skipper heard movement behind them them. In the opposite direction of where the fighting was going on. Quietly, so as to not be heard and noticed, Classified and Eva crept to where Skipper and Kowalski were bound.

"Tell me, do you and your friends always get caught up in ridiculous business like this?" Classified whispered harshly as he began to untie Skipper.

"Like you're one to talk. You act like this type of thing is normal for you." Skipper replied.

"That's because it is." Eva said from where she was untying Kowalski. Classified shot her a warning look, which she blatantly ignored.

Skipper blinked. He had not actually expected an answer. "Well, if that's true, than I gotta agree with Dexter on this one, you guys sure took your sweet time getting here."

Classified huffed and glared indignantly at Skipper, clearly not happy with the statement.

"We got here as soon as we could." Classified seethed.

"Savio messed with our systems" Eva said. "Even used our own security to lock as in while he and his companions left. It took some time to get everything back online and working again."

"Regardless of whether we're late or not, we're here now, and are more than capable of handling David and his gang." Classified said as he finished unbinding Skipper. "You, on the other hand-"

"Now hang on." Skipper stood up and glared at Classified. "Our friend's are in trouble, and you do not just get to waltz on over here and tell us to wait on the sidelines while you handle everything. _We_ are going to help our friends, and you are not going to stop us."

Kowalski beamed, for the first time, happy and relieved to see Skipper rejecting somebody else's orders. Now _this _was the Skipper that he knew. Somebody who wasn't going to let anybody stand in his way of doing what he wanted to do.

Classified rolled his eyes. "As tempting as it was, I wasn't going to say that. What I was going to say, if you would have bothered to let me finish, is that me and my team have things covered out here. You two go in there and help your friends."

"Wait, really?" Skipper asked. Classified smirked and saluted at them. Skipper barely hesitated before returning the gesture.

"Good luck." Eva said.

Kowalski blushed slightly. "Yeah, you too." Eva gave him a small smile before she and Classified went to help their teammates fend off the gang.

Skipper and Kowalski wasted little time in running inside the house, which, at first glance, seemed pretty empty, and silent. Then they found the wide open door in the hall with stairs leading down. The basement. Instinctively, both Skipper and Kowalski knew that that was where their friends were.

Without hesitating, or even being cautious about it, the boys rushed down the stairs, eager to save their friends from whatever trouble they were in. To make sure that they were safe. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs they heard a quiet sniffling coming from one of the corners that wasn't lit up well from the light upstairs. Skipper tensed. He had a suspicion on who that was.

"Private, is that you?" Skipper asked?

"Sk-skippah?" Oh, that was Private alright. Barely registering that anybody else was in the room, Skipper ran to where Private was and, in a rare show of affection, hugged him. Private leaned into the embrace for a moment before, surprisingly, pulling away.

"Skippah, I'm fine." Private insisted, though his voice was shaky and he looked scared for someone who said they were fine. "You need stop Savio before he-" Private trailed off.

"Before he what? What's Savio doing?" Skipper asked. Private pointed over his shoulder, and what Skipper saw when he looked where Private was pointing made his blood run cold.

Apparently what Savio was doing was he was trying to strangle Skipper's brother! Savio had his fingers wrapped around Hans' throat and was pinning him to the ground. Savio was choking him. What was though was that Hans wasn't…

...He wasn't moving.

Skipper froze. No. No no no no no _no. _This could not be happening. It took a moment for the shock to wear off, and once it did, the only thought that ran through Skipper's head was that Savio needed to get his freaking hand off his brother.

Skipper tackled Savio, knocking him to the ground, away from Hans. Savio glared at Skipper viciously, angry at being interrupted, and likely would have attacked if it weren't for Clemson.

"Hey, about we try to not make things worse for ourselves." Clemson said. He grabbed Savio's arm to stop him from doing anything. "For all we know, these guys got backup coming in right behind them. Why don't we just cut our losses and get out of here while we still can?" Savio didn't seem very happy about the idea, but he agreed.

Skipper couldn't care less about those two leaving. Honestly, he was glad to see them run away like the cowards they were. At least now he didn't have to worry about either of them hurting his friends anymore than they already had.

Now Skipper just had to find out just how extensive of damage they had done. Skipper knelt down next to Hans. His brother still wasn't moving, and Skipper sincerely hoped that he was just unconscious and not...Skipper couldn't even finish the thought. He had lost too many people already, he couldn't lose Hans too.

Sure, Hans was a jerk sometimes, and often selfish, and Skipper didn't understand him. But they were still brothers, and Skipper, well, he loved him. And if Hans had died, before he could tell him so, Skipper would never be able to forgive himself.

Hesitantly, and ever so gently, Skipper brought two of his fingers to Hans' neck, which was already beginning to show signs of bruising. Skipper willed his hands to stop shaking so he could feel a heartbeat. For a terrifying moment, he felt nothing, but then, thankfully, Skipper felt it.

A pulse. It was faint, but still there.

Skipper let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Hans was alive. He was going to be okay. Skipper could see that Hans was breathing too, though still with some difficulty.

"Hey, Skipper, are things okay over there?" Kowalski asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah, everything's fine." Skipper said, he tried hard not to let it show in his voice how worried he had been. "How's Rico doing?" Skipper felt a little guilty that he hadn't checked on Rico yet. Kowalski, on the other hand, had went to Rico the second they'd gotten down there.

"Other than a concussion, he seems to be fine." Kowalski answered, though that wasn't entirely true. Kowalski may not have been physically hurt, though what Kowalski refrained from telling Skipper was that Rico seemed to be in a state of shock. He wasn't responding to anything. He had barely flinched or acknowledged when Kowalski had taken the gun out of his hands.

Rico just sat there, staring at Deilf's body, his expression one of horror. Kowalski was also horrified at the sight of the man who had been shot, though not because of the fact that he'd been shot. No, Kowalski was horrified because he had a pretty good idea as to why Rico had shot Deilf in the first place, and it made him feel a little sick.

"WIll Rico be okay?" Private asked quietly. Kowalski sighed and held Rico's hands in his own, as it seemed to be the only thing he could do to get a reaction from Rico. At the contact, Rico had relaxed slightly. Kowalski didn't really like physical contact of any sort, it always made him feel awkward, but he pushed his own discomforts aside. If holding Rico's hands made his friend more relaxed, then darn it, Kowalski could bother to do that much.

"I hope so." Kowalski said. He looked at Private and flinched at the boy's injuries. "You need to get some medical attention." Kowalski glanced at Rico, who was still unresponsive, and Hans, who was unconscious. "You _all_ need medical attention."

Private's eyes brightened with an idea. "I know who we can call." He reached into his pockets for his phone, only to find it wasn't there. His pockets were empty.

"Um, can I borrow your phone?" Private asked Kowalski, who frowned with confusion.

"Why? What happened to yours?" Kowalski asked, though he handed over his phone anyways.

Private shrugged. "I think they must've taken it when they first brought us here."

Skipper narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't adding up. "And when was that?"

"Shortly after I texted you." Private said.

"Which text?" Skipper asked. "Are you talking about the one where you asked for our help?"

Now it was Private's turn to look confused. "Wasn't that the only text?"

Kowalski and Skipper looked at each other. Both of them remembered texting Private earlier, asking him where he was, and they'd gotten this address in the reply. But, apparently, Private hadn't sent that text. But if he hadn't, then who had?

"You know what, it doesn't matter." Skipper waved the matter aside. "Just make the stupid phone call already.

"Who are you calling anyways?" Kowalski asked as Private began dialing the number. The boy grinned.

"My uncle."

**Yay, everybody's reunited again. About time too, considering things have been falling apart between them for eleven chapters now. The middle part of the chapter was kinda giving me a hard time, but I did enjoy writing the beginning...for some odd reason.**


	25. Together Again

**And here we are, at the last chapter of the story. Sad day, I know, but all good things must come to an end at some point, or else you don't appreciate them as much.**

**Anyways, let's just get going with this. The chapter will be a little rushed, but not as action exciting as previous ones.**

Honestly, when Private had said that he was going to call his uncle, Skipper and Kowalski couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not. Because, seriously, they needed the police or an ambulance or something useful like that. What help would Private's uncle be able to supply?

Apparently, a lot of help, considering the fact that he's a stinking spy!

Skipper still had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea, that Private's uncle was a spy. Even though they were currently at C.E.N.T.R.A.L.'s New York spy headquarters, part of Skipper still had a hard time believing that this was really happening. The other part of him believed all right, and thought it was totally awesome and wanted nothing more than to explore the headquarters.

But, he wouldn't, he couldn't. At least, not yet. Skipper wasn't going to do anything until he made sure that Hans was alright.

After Private had called his uncle, it hadn't taken long for some of C.E.N.T.R.A.L.'s spy agent whatever guys to show up. The first thing the agents had done was secure Deilf, who, in fact, wasn't dead. Rico shooting him hadn't been lethal, though it did do some serious damage to Deilf's spinal cord, and it was likely that the guy would be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life.

After making sure Deilf wasn't going to get away, the agents had captured Dave and any straggling gang members. Deilf had been their first priority though, because, apparently, he was one of their most wanted enemies.

Not much longer after that, the agents brought them all back to their headquarters. Deilf, Dave, and his gang were thrown into their holding cells in the basement, and the same thing nearly happened to Hans too, because they apparently saw him as a 'threat'. Which, you know, Skipper kinda understood that, because Hans could be dangerous sometimes. But not enough to have to be locked up.

It was only because of Private that Hans hadn't been tossed into one of those holding cells. Private, who always saw the good in everybody, could tell, like Skipper could, that Hans had his problems, but wasn't a bad person. Not really. Private had talked to his uncle and convinced him to not lock Hans up.

This didn't mean that Hans was entirely off the hook, as the agents will be keeping a close eye on him. Now that, Skipper could live with. Besides, maybe having people constantly watching his every move would finally get Hans to behave himself...maybe.

While Skipper agreed that Hans' should have somebody watching him, he still wasn't entirely happy with this situation. Mostly because it was taking forever for these stupid agents to decide that he could actually see his brother who, while not in one of those cells, was being held in a room temporarily while they tried to figure out what exactly they were going to do with him.

Finally, after what felt like forever to Skipper, who wasn't a very patient guy, Private's uncle let him into the room where Hans was. The two brothers were going to be allowed to talk...just as long as Private's uncle was behind them, listening to their every word.

Having an eavesdropper would normally bug the heck out of Skipper, but right now he really couldn't care less. He was just glad to see that Hans was okay. The second that Skipper entered into the room and Hans saw him, the Dane beamed brightly. As he always did whenever he saw Skipper, Hans ran forward and tackled Skipper into a hug. He usually hated it when Hans did this, now, however, Skipper found himself more than happy to return the embrace.

This rare moment of intimacy didn't last very long, as Skipper soon ended the embrace and instead whacked the back of Hans' head.

"Ow." Hans winced and rubbed his head. "What was that for?"

"You're such an idiot." Skipper scolded. "What the heck were you thinking, trying to take on Savio by yourself? You know better than I do that you're no match for him."

Hans frowned. "I was just trying to stop Savio from hurting Rico." He muttered.

"Yeah, I know. Private told me about that." Skipper smirked. "You know, I've been wanting you to take responsibility for your mistakes for years now. I would have prefered it, though, if your taking responsibility didn't involve you almost dying."

Hans' frown deepened and he rubbed his hand lightly over his neck which, Skipper was not happy to see, was pretty badly bruised.

"Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you've finally started doing some good. I just hope that this wasn't just a fluke, but you actually starting to pick up your act." Skipper joked. He expected Hans to at least smile at that, but no, nothing.

Hans scowled. "Good? I didn't do good. It was because of me that Rico and Private were in danger in the first place. I lured Rico out, just because Deilf told me to."

"And because you were scared to go against him. We both know you didn't want anybody to get hurt." Skipper insisted. "And yeah, you made a mistake, nothing new there. But you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. You did what you could to fix things, and honestly, I'm...I'm proud of you."

Hans' eyes widened. "You are? But I thought that you hated me."

"Hate you? I've never hated you. Been seriously annoyed and angry at you, but never hate." Skipper said.

Hans grinned and once again attacked Skipper by means of hugging. And Skipper, once again, let him. Sure, Skipper wasn't a big fan of this mushy intimate stuff, but for his brother, Skipper would be willing to make an exception every once and awhile.

Their moment was interrupted when a really distressed looking agent came through the door in a hurry. He ignored the two boys and turned to Private's uncle.

"Nigel, we need you downstairs. Now!" The agent said. "We don't know how, but Blowhole, he's escaped."

"He's what?!" Nigel didn't waste any time running out of the room to go check on the situation. Skipper and Hans shared a brief glance before running off after him. They wanted to know what was going on too, and apparently they weren't the only ones who wanted to know either.

Upon arriving in the basement Skipper and Hans found that Private, Kowalski, and Rico were all there already. Private looked concerned and totally exhausted. Not that Skipper blamed him though, it had been a long night for all of them. Kowalski, who all this time hadn't left Rico's side, looked like he was just trying to figure some stuff out. Rico was stiff, but he was at least reacting more to things than he was earlier. Currently, Rico looked torn between running and hiding, and punching somebody in the face.

Nigel went over to the now empty holding cell that Francis Deilf had been in a short while ago. "How did this happen?" Nigel muttered to himself.

"Savio." Hans all but growled. Everybody turned to look at him.

"No, he's likely correct." A voice said that caused Skipper to groan and roll his eyes when he heard it. How could he have forgotten that Classified was here too. "Savio is a master at breaking and entering, and one of few people who actually knew that Blowhole was here."

"You're probably right." Nigel said to Classified, which just made Skipper even more frustrated. Hans had been the first one to think it had been Savio, and yet Classified got credit for the idea? That just wasn't fair.

Nigel sighed and looked at the empty holding cell. "And here I thought the hunt for this guy was finally over. And, to top it all off, it looks like we'll need to update the locks on these cells...again."

"Shouldn't be too hard of a fix." Another new voice added. Skipper turned to see a man and a woman, neither of whom looked like agents, and a little girl standing next to them. Skipper didn't recognize them, but the way that Kowalski's eyes widened, Skipper thought it was safe to assume that he did. The little girl, when she saw Kowalski she smiled brightly, ran over to him, and hugged his legs awkwardly.

"You're okay!" The girl exclaimed happily. "Mommy and daddy were worried about you."

"Th-they were?" Kowalski asked. He still wasn't used to people worrying about him. Kowalski looked up to the man. "Dr. Brine, what are you doing here?"

"I called him." Nigel said. "We're close friends, though we haven't actually seen each other for a few years."

"Nigel called me when he found out that you were involved in all this." Dr. Brine said. He looked very relieved that Kowalski was okay. "Although, Since I'm already here, I can find a way to improve my lock system."

"Hang on. Your lock system?" Skipper raised an eyebrow.

"Yep, he invented it, plus other things that C.E.N.T.R.A.L. uses." Nigel said. "That's how we know each other."

Young Karen, who had gotten bored of the adult's talking, drew her attention elsewhere. She was curious to see that the holding cell next to this empty one had a person in it. Karen went closer to get a better look. She was surprised to see that the occupant of this cell was younger, around Kowalski's age. And he looked sad.

"Are you okay?" Karen asked. Dave glared at the small girl.

"What do you want, brat?" Dave asked.

"I want to know why you're sad." Karen said.

Dave's eyes widened. "I'm not sad!"

"Yes you are." Karen said plainly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here because these paranoid idiots don't want me on the streets, but don't know what else to do with me." Dave said angrily.

Karen looked to the side to where the others were still talking in front of Blowhole's now empty cell. "Someone else was here, but he's gone now. Why aren't you gone too?"

Dave turned away from Karen and glared at the floor. "Because some people don't know how to keep a promise." Dave looked angry, but Karen could see the pain in his eyes.

"Your friends left you here?" Karen asked.

"Yeah, they did." Dave didn't bother saying that he had never been friends with Savio or Deilf or any of them, that they'd just had an alliance. Because it didn't matter what his relationship with those guys were, what mattered was they had made a deal, and they had broken their end and just left him here.

Back with the adults, plans were being made on how they were going to find Blowhole again, but Kowalski wasn't paying attention. He had other things on his mind, a decision he had to make.

"Dr. Brine, can I talk to you for a minute?" Kowalski asked. Derek Brine looked curious, but he agreed. He followed Kowalski a little away from the others so they could have a private conversation.

"What do you want?" Derek asked.

"uh, well...I just-" Kowalski stumbled over his words, as though he didn't know how to say what he wanted to. Finally Kowalski just asked. "Why did you choose me?"

"You mean to adopt you?" Derek asked. Kowalski nodded almost sheepishly. "Well, the reason that me and Debbie decided to adopt in the first place is because we want kids, and there are already so many children who don't have proper homes. We chose you for a similar reason why we chose Karen."

"The two of you are just so bright, and you have so much potential. I can see you going far in the world if you get the opportunity. Sadly, both you and Karen are lacking in skills that most people think essential, which may limit the opportunities you may get."

"Like, the fact that I can't read." Kowalski muttered under his breath.

"And your occasional lack of social skills." Derek said teasingly. "Karen, she's smart, but she has a difficult time learning the way that most people do. Me and Debbie decided to adopt Karen and you to give you kids your best chance, to help you find those opportunities that can get you far in the world."

"However, we're not forcing you to get adopted." Derek said. "That's what this is about, isn't it? You're having second thoughts?"

"Dr. Brine, you and your wife are amazing, and I adore Karen." Kowalski looked towards the others, at his teammates. His friends. "But I think I'm needed somewhere else."

The whole time he was with the Brine's, Kowalski couldn't get his mind off worrying about his friends. And then to return and see that things had just fallen apart, it was upsetting. Kowalski never again wanted to leave his friends. Not when they needed him so much...Not when he needed them. Yeah, he admitted it, he needed his friends. He needed his...his _brothers._

Derek nodded. "I understand completely, though Karen will be disappointed. She was looking forward to having an older brother."

"I think Karen knew I was going to decide to stay even sooner than I did." Kowalski said. "And there are plenty of kids around who need help. I'm sure you'll have no problem finding somebody else."

Derek looked over to where Karen was. The young girl was now showing Dave a snow globe that she had brought with her. One of her favorite snow globes from her collection. And Dave actually seemed interested in what she was saying to him. Watching the two of them interact, Derek smiled.

"Yes, I'm sure I won't have any problem finding somebody." He said.

Kowalski, who never really knew what to do when he spoke to people, nodded at Dr. Brine and, not sure what else to say, rejoined the group.

"Hey, what were the two of you talking about?" Skipper asked when Kowalski returned.

Kowalski shrugged. "Just about how I am no longer interested in being adopted by him and his wife anymore." Skipper and Private looked at him like he was crazy. Rico blinked hazily and looked at Kowalski as if it were the first time he was seeing him.

"Oor...oor s'ayin'?" Rico asked quietly. Kowalski smiled. It was nice to hear Rico's voice again, after so long.

"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere." Kowalski wrapped his arms around Rico's shoulder. Rico flinched at the contact, but didn't pull away. In fact, he leaned closer to Kowalski and smiled slightly.

"Mi''ed 'oo." Rico muttered.

"I missed you guys too." Kowalski said.

"It'll be nice to have you around again, Kowalski." Skipper said. "We make a pretty good team."

"Yes, you do. This agency could actually use some more people like you." Nigel said to the four of them. "Maybe we should see if we can get you into The North Wind."

"The North what?" Skipper asked.

"The North Wind." Private said excitedly. "it's a group of younger spies. That's what Classified and his friends are."

"I _knew _they were spies!" Skipper said triumphantly. A moment later, the news he had just heard hit him. "Wait, we're going to be spies?"

"I don't see why not." Nigel said. Classified's jaw dropped at this news.

"Them? Spies? But they're...he's...who would lead their team?" Classified asked.

"Skipper's a legal adult. I believe he's more than capable of leading this team." Nigel said.

"That's just _fantastic._" Classified forced out, his tone more than suggesting that he thought the opposite.

Eva came forward. "Kowalski, do you remember why things didn't work out for us earlier?"

Kowalski frowned. "You said that a relationship would get in the way of your work."

"Yes, but now that we're likely to be in the same field of work, I see no reason why we should not try again. If you want to, that is."

"I...of course I want to!" Kowalski exclaimed, his face red. Eva smiled and kissed Kowalski right then and there.

"Yeah, 'old friends' my foot." Skipper scoffed. "And here I thought you still had feelings for Doris." Kowalski and Eva broke away from their kiss and looked at him.

"I do still have feelings for Doris." Kowalski said, his voice wavering slightly like it always did when he said her name. "But, well, I also-"

"He also still has feelings for me." Eva finished.

"And you're fine with him liking both of you?" Private asked.

Eva shrugged. "I did not mind before, and I do not mind now. He may like Doris, but those feelings are obviously no longer returned, which is her loss anyways. As long as he has feelings for me, that's all I care about." Eva kissed Kowalski once more before rejoining her team. Skipper shook his head.

"Kowalski, tell me, how did you ever accomplish having two ex-girlfriends who are both beautiful, smart, and older than you?" Skipper asked. Kowalski shook his head, obviously as confused about how this happened as Skipper was.

Private, who didn't really understand romantic relationships much, turned to his uncle. "Are we really going to be spies."

"Most likely, unless it's decided otherwise, which I can't think of a reason why it would be." Nigel said.

"But, we won't have to do anything that has to do with Blowhole again, will we?" Private asked fearfully. Nigel's eyes darkened a bit.

"Absolutely not! Not if I have anything to say about it." Nigel said. "That man has caused you kids enough trouble as it is."

"So those guys get to be spies, and that's great, but what about me?" Hans asked. Nobody had yet given him a straight answer on what was going to happen to him and where he was going to go.

"Actually, I think you could be a big help for the agency too." Nigel said.

"Me?" Hans asked.

"Him?" Skipper raised an eyebrow because, yeah, he loved his brother. But Hans, a spy? Skipper just had a hard time seeing that happening.

"A different type of spy." Nigel said. "You have a more questionable background, which means that we will have to keep a close eye on you. But your background could also be useful. You could be able to provide insightful information about Blowhole, Savio, and Clemson."

"Yeah, I guess I could." Hans said.

"Hang on." Dave's voice cut in. "If the Dane is going to be selling out Deilf, than I want in."

"You want to betray Blowhole?" Nigel asked.

"Absolutely. He betrayed me first." Dave said simply.

"Are you really going to trust these delinquents?" Classified asked Nigel, who shook his head.

"I'll do whatever it takes to catch Blowhole." Nigel said. "He's been on the loose for far too long now. And, as I said before, we'll be keeping a close eye on them."

"So I'm actually going to be a spy?" Hans asked. He looked as excited about this idea as Skipper felt.

"We all are." Skipper smirked. He turned to Kowalski, Rico, and Private. "Looks like we're going to be an actual team now."

"It's not going to be easy." Kowalski pointed about before grinning. "Than again, nobody ever said it would be."

"Fair enough." Skipper agreed. Yeah, this spy stuff wouldn't be easy, and neither would being leader of this knuckleheaded team. But Skipper knew they'd be able to handle whatever got thrown at them, just so long as they worked as a team.

Together.

**And that's the end of the story. Honestly, I always have a hard time believing it when I've finished a story after such a long time.**

**What I have a harder time believing though is that I actually finished this story on time. Yep, I met my deadline. And no, I didn't just give myself a deadline as a goal for when I wanted to finish the story, but when I needed to finish the story. See, for the next year and a half I will have little to no fanfiction writing opportunities, starting tomorrow. I am dead serious about this. So don't expect to see any more of my stories for awhile. But hey, at least I finished this one, right?**

**And though I did kinda rush through writing this chapter, I am pleased with how it worked out, and I don't think I forgot anything. So yay!**

**And thank you so much for everybody who has read, favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. It really means a lot, and I hope you enjoyed it.**


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